We Run Together
by TotalSarcastic
Summary: Hermione Granger is faced with a close death. It's up to her and her partner to solve things. Oh yeah, but her partner just so happens to be Draco Malfoy. But is it really a bad thing?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Hi, so this is my first fan fiction. Be wary, I would love constructive criticism. Thank you kindly!

**Disclaimer: **All belong to J.K. Rowling, this is all based on her.

Spine of steel, heart of gold and mind full of knowledge Hermione Granger strode with pride to the Ministers office. It was Hermione's fifth year of service to the Ministry and she was to be awarded for her work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

As soon as Voldemort was defeated and the war ceased, Hermione was determined to help keep the world a better place. Well, the Magical world at least, by applying and obtaining a job that would keep order and structure of the magical laws.

Her first accomplishment was ridding the wizarding prison of Azkaban of the Dementors that guarded it and replaced them with fully checked out wizards who had proven themselves trustworthy in a one year trial. Next she helped the last of the accused be put in their place whether it was in Azkaban or back to their homes with a sincere apology. She also worked carefully with the Minister himself, several highly knowledgeable Auror's, and many long-serving law makers to amend, create and abolish laws that were to be better suited for the new world.

Yes, Hermione had achieved many things in five years time, considering she was only twenty-two years of age, she was doing quite well for herself.

Once Hermione reached the Ministers office, she softly knocked at the door and waited to hear a positive reply before entering.

"Miss Granger," the Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, greeted. "Come in, have a seat," he said gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. Hermione sat quickly with anticipation.

"Thank you, Sir. You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did. I assume you have already heard rumours as to the award you will be receiving from

the Ministry. Am I right?"

Her cheeks flushed. Hermione did know, and she couldn't lie to the Minister. Even if she didn't know, she would have found out in that moment anyway.

"Yes Sir, I did know."

The Minister smiled at her, "can't keep anything a secret here can we?" He gave a light chuckle and so did Hermione out of pure understanding. She remembers when Harry had mentioned to Ron that he was going to propose to Ginny and of course everyone knows that they had been dating for a while. The word spread through the Ministry like wild fire and soon was enough leaked to _The Daily Prophet._

"So then I also assume you know of the dinner we had planned for you to present this award at?"

She nodded, smiling, still had rose coloured cheeks.

"Well then, not-so-surprise Miss. Granger! Your work here in the Ministry has been outstanding. We were so impressed; we decided to honour you with the 'Most Dedicated to the Ministry' award. Congratulations!"

"Thank you Sir, it has been a pleasure working here. I absolutely love my job! I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else."

"Excellent! The dinner will be in two months time, as you know things have been busy here and we're making sure to plan it well. Hence the lateness."

Hermione didn't mind at all, she really didn't even care to have a plaque with her name on it. All she cared is that her boss and co-workers were happy with her work and that she was doing her job well.

"Thank you again Sir, and really, don't feel like you have to rush about the dinner." She shook the Ministers hand with a good grip and gave him a big smile. She headed for the door and was done for the day. Hermione walked through the Ministry feeling so confident, so proud and curious as to what her parents would say if she could tell them about her doings. She thought of them every day, wondering how they were, guessing if they enjoyed their new lives. It was hard on Hermione to erase her parents' minds and send them away. But she couldn't take risks, she had to keep them safe and she did. But the pang of sorrow she felt everyday would never subside. At least she had Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the Weasley's.

As Hermione made her way through the Ministry, she made a detour and stopped in at the Auror's offices. Going there was almost as good as going back to Hogwarts; so many friendly and familiar faces gazed and greeted her as she walked through.

"Hiya Hermione, congrats on the award! Bit of a bugger that you got to wait 'till February to get it though."

Hermione laughed, "thanks Dean. I don't mind all that much. Hey, have you seen Harry or Ron around?"

"Sorry Hermione, not today. Ask Seamus, he might have."

"Thanks again Dean!"

"No problem!" He winked and went back to his duties.

Hermione had always enjoyed Dean, he was a polite and funny bloke, any girl would be lucky to get him. She continued on her search for Ron, Harry or Seamus but Hermione was stopped by a few other people, accepting praise for her award and simple, small talk. Eventually she found Seamus behind a mound of papers; obviously someone was behind on their filing. Again.

"Hi Seamus, having troubles filing again?"

Seamus popped his head out from around the papers and shot a huge silly grin in Hermione's direction. Before she knew it, Seamus had scurried across the floor and scooped her up in a celebratory hug.

"CONGRATULATIONS HERMIONE!" Hermione laughed and thanked Seamus, then quickly suggested to put her down.

"Haha, sorry Hermione. Let me guess, you've already had everyone in the Ministry come and congratulate you and you came 'round here looking for Harry and Ron? Tell me I'm right because I know I am."

Hermione laughed again and playfully flicked his nose, "bingo!"

"Knew it! I'm getting good at this. But sorry to say, I haven't seen Harry or Ron pretty much all day. Oh, but..." Seamus dug around in his pocket and finally presented a small folded piece of paper with Hermione's name written on it. "This is for you. From your boys of course," he said with a smile, "now I really need to get back to sorting these papers. See ya Hermione!" With a wink and a nod, Seamus stalked back to his desk and started to rifle through his papers.

Hermione turned from him and started to head home, when curiosity got the best of her. She stopped in her tracks and looked down at the note in her palm. She stared at it for a minute and then carefully opening it as if suspecting one of George's silly tricks would be hidden inside waiting for her. Instead it was a quick scribble of a note obviously written in Ron's writing because it was barely even legible.

_Hermione, _

_Harry and I have something serious we need to tell you. Meet us at the Burrow at eight sharp._

_Ron_

Hermione started to wonder what could possibly be wrong. She quickly checked her watch and it read 6:43. Hermione quickened her pace around the corner and hit a hard, yet warm growling wall... What the..?

"Watch it, Granger."

Hermione looked up to meet eyes with her school-day bully, Draco Malfoy.

"How in the bloody hell did you get in here, Malfoy?"

Draco glared at her and gave an unnecessary full body look over of Hermione.

"Bloody hell, hmm? Starting to sound like your little Weasel-bee."

"Ron isn't my anything, Malfoy." He looked down and inspected her left hand to find it empty.

"Hasn't proposed yet then?"

"For your information, Ronald and I are no longer together. Not like it matters to you," Hermione took her turn in looking down to his hands. Long fingers, naked of a wedding ring, but did bare the Malfoy crest and no shackles that bound him, interesting. Interesting about the lack of shackles, not the wedding ring, that was obvious. She glared right back at him.

"What are you even doing here? I thought you would make yourself scarce of this place after the war." He eyed her, looked down to his own wrists and sneered.

"I'm not here against my will if that's why you looked at my hands. I am here for a purpose. It's nothing you need to worry your big bushy head about," then smirked. He was such an ass, and he knew it too.

"Why can't you tell me? I told you my personal information."

"You didn't have to."

"You asked!"

"Still didn't have to."

"Jesus Malfoy, just tell me! It can't be that big of a deal!"

"No." He stood there for a moment and then turned and Hermione watched him floo out of the building. Jerk. Moments after that, she flooed home herself and was then greeted by her cat, Crookshanks.

"Hi Crooks, what have you been up today?" The cat merely meowed and brushed against her legs then made a quick escape to the bedroom.

Hermione's flat was actually big for being a flat. She had three rooms, one for her bedroom, one as a library and another as a study. She had a large living space, which she happened to fill with more books and photos of her Hogwarts years and a breath taking view of muggle London. She was so at home here. This was the fifth place she moved to after the war. Things in the Wizarding World will still hectic and security was tight, so Hermione figured it should be that way with her own home. Once it was declared that the Wizarding World was safe again, she moved one last time and found herself in this great flat.

Once Hermione placed her work stuff in the study, changed into casual wear and sat her bottom on the couch, she brought Ron's note to her attention again.

She read it over and over again, playing different scenarios in her head. She gave up the couch and replaced tapping her fingers against her thighs with pacing up and down her living room. That's when she figured it out. Everyone had been congratulating her all day on her award and Harry and Ron would have heard and probably decided to throw her some surprise dinner at the Burrow! Made perfect sense. So Hermione calmed herself and returned to the couch for some relax time before she was to leave for the Weasley's. But instead of relaxing, she replayed the unexpected meeting with Draco Malfoy at the Ministry earlier that day. She was so sure she ran into a wall, but it didn't make sense that it was warm. It didn't make sense that _he _was warm. Hermione always imagined him to be stone cold, you know, to match his heart and lovely personality. Never in a million years would she have expected him to be _warm. _Ugh, she wasn't even going to get into that sort of thinking.

At ten to eight, Hermione gussied up in the bathroom mirror, straightened up the living room and fed Crookshanks before flooing to the Burrow.

When Hermione arrived, she was shocked to see no one there to greet her. It was winter and naturally it was dark at eight in the evening, but there were barely any lights on. She stood still, listening to see if anyone was around before calling out into the darkness.

"Hello..? Ron? Harry? Ginny? Mrs. Weasley?" She checked her watch again to see if she had the right time, and of course, eight o'clock on the nose.

"Mr. Weasley? George..?"

It was really starting to frighten Hermione that no one was answering, let alone the idea that no one might be home. She walked over to the kitchen to see it empty, past the living room which was also empty and decided to check upstairs. Every ascending creek of the stairs raised panic in her. Hermione swore she heard a noise downstairs; she stopped, almost reaching the first landing. She looked down, but nothing or no one was seen. Then suddenly, a door closing upstairs grabbed her attention. Thank God, Mrs. Weasley!

"Oh, hello Hermione, dear. I didn't hear you floo in," she practically whispered. Hermione noticed her puffy eyes and quiet tone but dared not say a thing about them.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley, where is everyone?"

"Everyone is out at the moment, dear. But Harry and Ron are up in Ron's old room."

"Alright, thank you Mrs. Weasley," Hermione gave her a kind smile and moved passed her to continue climbing up the stairs. Clearly this wasn't a surprise party for her after all.

She reached the top of the stairs, knocked and opened the door to Ron's old room. Ron's old room was one of the major factors that led to their split almost three years ago. Hermione thought it was time to grow up and get his own place, but he refused. He claims leaving home would be too hard but Hermione knew it was just a cover story and the truth was Ron liked his mother cooking and cleaning for him. A little after they broke up, Ron moved out, but they never talked about getting back together. Hermione thinks it was for the better.

As she entered the room, the smell of Harry and Ron filled her nose. She looked around the room to still see Quidditch posters upon the wall and a few old chairs sitting around, everything else was gone.

Harry and Ron looked up to Hermione and gave quick smiles.

"Hi guys," Ron looked to Harry and nodded.

"Here," Harry said pointing to the chair. "Come sit Hermione. Ron has some news."

Hermione looked at the pair of them, whatever news it was, it didn't look good. She slowly made her way over to the chair that Harry pointed at and sat down without a sound. Ron looked at her with puffy eyes and a threat of tears.

"I asked you guys to come because I wanted to let you know... My..." There was a long pause complete with a sigh.

"My dad was killed today." Hermione's mouth dropped.

"W-what happened?! W-what, how?!"

"He was visiting Charlie in Romania. Studying his work, you know my dad. And he got a little too close to one of the dragons and bam! Death by fire."

Hermione was speechless. She couldn't believe it! She then felt sorry for not comforting Mrs. Weasley when she clearly looked like she'd been crying.

"Ron... I'm... I'm so sorry," Hermione felt the tears prickle at her own eyes. She held back though, wanting to be strong for Ron.

"Ron, Harry, Hermione! Come down stairs, I got some tea ready for you!"

"Coming mum!"

The trio made their way through the almost empty room and down the creaking stairs of the Burrow. Harry led, quickly followed by Ron, which wasn't surprising since food was prepared and on the table and Hermione followed a few steps behind.

The lights where still off and dimly light in an odd place here and there. Hermione was so taken aback about the news she had just received only seconds ago. It made her think back to her own parents, then about Harry. The Weasley's have been his family since they first met in year one. Closer than that really since Harry proposed to Ginny six or seven months ago. Oh no, Ginny. Poor Ginny. She would have to walk down the aisle without her father and not have Fred there to laugh along with. Poor Ginny, Harry and the rest of the Weasley's.

Hermione came back to reality and realised she had stopped on the second to last step and Ron and Harry must already be round in the kitchen. She proceeded down the stairs and walked around the corner to the completely lit kitchen and sat with the boys who had already started to eat.

"Saw-ry Herm-nee, we were hn-gry," Ron managed to squeeze out between fork fulls of bangers and mash.

Hermione pushed the food around the plate with her fork, not really interested in eating at that moment. Harry, Ron and Mrs. Weasley ate in silence while Hermione replayed the information in her head. Mr. Weasley, dragon, flame, dead.

When the three had finished, Mrs. Weasley cleared the table, not minding Hermione's untouched plate and went without a word. A few silent moments more than Harry looked across the table over to Ron then Hermione,

"Congratulations on your work award Hermione."

"Thank you Harry, but this isn't about me right now-"

"Hermione dear, you got an award from the Ministry?" Hermione was a little shocked to hear Mrs. Weasley sound almost happy, like nothing had happened. But if talking about other things kept her mind off of Arthur Weasley, Hermione would do her best to help.

She spoke of all of the things she has done at the Ministry to achieve this sort of award, Mrs. Weasley seemed impressed. Once she finished and received praise from everyone around the table, a faint sound of a door closing and shuffling feet made an interruption. George and Ginny appeared around the corner of the kitchen, keeping their heads down until Mrs. Weasley greeted them.

Harry bolted to Ginny's side and pulled her deeply close. Hermione watched as he soothed and comforted her, his grip tightened around her waist as she heard the small sounds of tears. Ron rose from his chair and shuffled over to Harry and Ginny to make it a group hug, Hermione thought he needed the hug just as much as Ginny. Hermione noticed George raise his fist to his eyes and smack away the few silent tears that fell. She decided he needed a hug to, so she walked over to him and hugged him tight. Even though Hermione and George never really got to know each other, she felt close to him, to his family. He hugged right back and Hermione dug her face into his chest to stifle her own tears. It was going to be a long night, Harry and Ginny made their way up to Ginny's room for the night and Mrs. Weasley retired to her room as well.

"How are you?"

"Hermione, I rather not talk about it."

"Sorry, we can talk about something else. How is Angelina?" George and Angelina married a few years back, their wedding was gorgeous, it had elements of Quidditch too because that's how they really got to know one another. It really suited them, it was a little cheesy, but perfect. In their second year of Hogwarts both George and Angelina went out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and made it, ever since then they secretly fancied each other. Everyone knew it, but the two of them avoided dating in school, no one was really sure why.

"She's alright," George was avoiding eye contact with her, she hasn't seen him this upset since Fred died, and even then he was worse than this.

"I think I'm going to go home now, you're welcome to sleep here if you'd like. I'm sure my mum won't mind," George departed from his chair and walked over to the fireplace in the living room and flooed home.

Hermione was left sitting in the Burrow's kitchen alone, she contemplated crashing on the couch,

but she eventually staggered over to the fireplace and flooed home.

A week had gone by and Ron still hasn't come to work. Hermione and Harry have visited the Burrow almost every night. Ron hasn't even gone to his own home yet and George has someone taking care of Weasley Wizard's Wheezes while he spends his days with his family. Even Angelina makes her appearances with plates of goodies, baskets of bread and containers of soup.

When Hermione got to her desk that morning, she had an unusual amount of papers and files sitting there waiting for her. She wasn't due to start in another half an hour so she made herself a cup of tea and grabbed a blueberry muffin from the Ministry's cafeteria.

When she made her way back to her office, there had been a note slipped under the door that lay on the floor. Hermione placed her tea and muffin on the desk and proceeded to pick up the note.

_As soon as you're on duty, come to my office and bring those files that are upon your desk. We need to talk._

_Shacklebolt_

Hermione scrunched her face at the note and turned to the ominous pile on her desk. She quickly downed her tea and stuffed her muffin in a napkin, threw it in her top left-hand drawer and swiped the stack of papers from her desk and made a run for Shacklebolts office.

When she arrived she knocked on the door three times quickly before having the door opened by a familiar face.

"Harry? What are you doing here?"

"Same reason you are, Hermione," as he gestured towards the papers in Hermione's grip.

Confused, Hermione stepped into the office and sat down in front of the Ministers desk. It was only a week ago that she was sitting here with pure happiness, now she sits here more confused than ever.

"Morning, Miss Granger."

"Good morning, Sir."

"I'm assuming you haven't looked at those files yet?" Hermione looked down to her hands, realising she was still gripping onto the stack of papers. She set them down on the Ministers desk and took notice to Harry leaning on the far wall of the office.

"Mr. Potter, could you please fill in Miss. Granger as to why I needed to see the both of you this morning."Harry made his way closer to Hermione and sat in the chair next to her.

"Thing is Hermione, ever since Ron's dad died, we've been finding more and more reports of death, just like his. Some from three, five, ten years ago and longer. We're guessing, by the records, that it started around the same time that Voldemort was first starting to come into power. At least a hundred were killed back then. It died down after Voldemort was gone but then started up again roughly ten years after that, when I first saw him in our first year." Hermione looked between Harry and the Minister, still not being able to put two and two together.

"The dragon that killed Mr. Weasley was a non-fire breather. With all the other cases, it's been the same way. Almost sixty wizards have died because of these non-fire breathing dragons. And all of them were burnt to death, by those dragons." Hermione took a moment to take in that information.

"So.. Are you saying that someone is tampering with these dragons and that they could be Voldemort followers?"

"That is exactly what we thought, Miss. Granger," Shacklebolt replied.

"We're not sure if it is one person, or a group of people who are doing this. All we know for sure is that they're using rare magic to do all of this," Harry started again."Rare dark magic. Whatever we are dealing with, it's strong."

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. More than twenty years have gone by and no one has said anything about it until now? Incredible.. How do you miss something like that?!

"Alright, what can I do to help? I can scan every one of these reports again to see if information was left behind or-"

"Miss. Granger, I actually had something different in mind. You are going to need more than just yourself working on these. You'll also need to have protection, many of our Auror's are already on the case and this is a special line of work. I would like if you, not only continued your normal work but if you would also take on the roll of being part of the Auror Department. Investigations."

"Wow, that is an honor Sir, I will gladly take that on."

"Very good, I didn't think you would oppose to it," Shaklebolt smiled and shook Hermione's hand.

"As of today, you are to interview our new Auror's to see if any of them can match you mentally. Mr. Potter here has already taken to training them physically so they are quite capable to be your bodyguards as well. If you fail to find anyone, I might have someone in mind. Good luck Miss. Granger," Harry and Hermione exited the Ministers office and made their way to Hermione's office.

"It makes me wonder why Shacklebolt didn't just suggest the person he had in mind first," Hermione confessed as she and Harry settled into their chairs.

"Not sure. Anyway, here is the list of the newbie's that I've trained and are ready to be interviewed by you. They have full background checks and they have the one year loyalty and trust trials completed as well. They were briefed on the case, so don't be worried about revealing details," Harry stood and left a folded piece of paper on Hermione's desk. "Good luck," he said, then turned and vanished through the doorway.

Hermione reached across the desk and plucked the paper from the other side. She unfolded the paper to see it revealed at least seven names.

_Gillian Banks_

_Anderson Baker_

_Bertha Brown_

_Hetcher Green_

_Konner Murray_

_Frank Ward_

_Mitchell Young_

Alright, definitely some new faces. They ought to be a few years younger too, being new to the company. Hermione decided that she would ask each person questions about current events, dark magic and basic magic to know what level they were on. If everything went well, they would get a trial day with her to see how they worked together. That should do it.

She sent down a messenger to gather all of the applicants to wait outside her door to be interviewed, it was easier to round them all up at once instead of getting them one by one.

Hermione opened the door to her office to see the seven faces she called for, here we go.

"Gillian Banks, please," A girl with long blonde hair and pale skin came forward and walked into Hermione's office. Hermione sat in her chair and began running questions for Gillian through her head.

"So Gillian, congratulations on becoming an Auror."

"Thank you, Miss. Granger."

"Alright, so I will ask you some basic questions on current events, basic magic and dark magic. Understood?" Gillian nodded. Hermione could see that she had bitten her nails to shreds, must be nervous.

"Question one, what currently is the Ministry's Auror Department working on?" Gillian stared at her for a moment and then slowly opened her mouth to speak.

"Currently," she croaked, "they are working on this specific case that you are interviewing me for. Nothing else has really popped up in a few days to grab attention."

"Very good. Question two, could you please describe a Horcrux?" This time Gillian's face went blank. How could she _not _know what a Horcrux is, blimey. Hermione gave her a couple seconds, thinking it was nerves getting the best of her. After about a minute, Gillian dropped her head and Hermione knew that she didn't know the answer. Hermione showed her out and went through the rest of the applicants.

Anderson Baker couldn't handle the stress, even though Hermione hadn't asked him anything yet. Bertha Brown was simply all muscles, no brains. Hetcher Green knew all current events, basic magic, but was shy on dark magic. Konner Murray and Frank Ward were the same as Bertha, but with surprisingly a little more brains. Mitchell Young was flawless, he answered every question right. Hermione was about to declare him her partner when Mitchell asked when they were going to have sex. Hermione warned him that if those words left his mouth again, he'd be fired before he could ever say "sex" again. So much for them. Hermione sent a note to the Minister letting him know that the interviews didn't go to well and that none of them were suited for the job.

She finished the day with her regular duties, flooed home and went to bed early that night, she hadn't even started on the case yet and work was already becoming stressful. But it's nothing she can't handle.

The next morning, Hermione found that another piece of paper had made its way under her office door again. She snagged it off the floor and read the few words on it.

_Sorry to hear that things didn't work out with the new Auror's._

_My suggested person will be 'round your office at eleven, sharp._

_Give people chances, you might be surprised._

_Shacklebolt_

Alright then, guess we'll just have to wait. Hermione went around her normal business and even took a gander at a few of those case files again. They weren't all the same dragons, so there would be no pin-pointing. Blimey, maybe Shacklebolt has suggested someone who knows people who could have done this. It would be much helpful, it's obviously old Voldemort followers or even ex-Death Eaters. The activity makes sense and the times when it intensifies makes it way obvious.

A knock at Hermione's door frightened her, she looked down to her watch to see that it read _10:59am. _On time and one minute early, things are starting well. Hermione rose from her chair, she flattened out her black, mid-waist skirt and checked the buttons on her navy blue shirt. She quickly fluffed her hair, it was as good as it was going to get she reckoned and called for the mystery person to come in.

As Hermione stood there, she looked up to see who had entered her office. Blonde hair, pale skin. No way, it couldn't be. How could Shacklebolt possibly think this was a good idea?!

"Miss me?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:**Hi! Sorry if this has been a while since my last chapter. I try and try to work on it but sometimes you got other crap to do. Enjoy and feel free to provide feedback!

**Disclaimer:**All belong to J.K. Rowling, this is all based on her work.

Draco Malfoy stepped through the door proudly wearing a smirk on his face.

"No, no way. No, not at all. Nu-uh. No," Draco's smirk faded and was replaced by a hard frown.

"Granger, I hate this more than you do. I've tried everything to get out of this and no way, no how," he glared at her. It was brutal, his grey eyes pierced like knives into Hermione's chocolate iris'.

She hadn't noticed the first time she ran into him, literally, how much he had filled out since the war. He was always a little bit taller than Hermione and scrawny as hell. Now he was much taller than Hermione and sported broad filled out shoulders and strong arms. Hermione was a little taken aback at how he turned out, he looked well, he looked good. Quite fit actually. She would never admit that to him though, his head is big enough as it is.

"I believe I am the one who hates this more, Malfoy."

"Whatever, I don't really give a fuck."

Arrogant bastard.

"So that's why I bumped into you last week? You were here to talk to Shacklebolt?"

"The reason why you bumped into me is because you had your head down while walking."

Arse.

"You know what I mean. But fine, have a seat and I'll interview you."

Draco looked highly offended. Who does he think he is? Just because the Minister suggested him, it doesn't mean he gets a free ride, prick.

"Actually," Draco pulled a small folded up piece of paper from his pant pocket. "I have this," and tossed it onto the desk before taking the seat furthest from Hermione. She glanced at his clothes, black pants, black shoes, and grey button shirt with a narrow black tie. He wore so much black, probably to match his heart.

Great, another note. Hermione thought about all the notes she had gotten this past week. She's pretty sure not even Lavender and Pavarti passed these many notes in their seven years at Hogwarts.

Hermione slid the note off the desk and into her lap, there she carefully opened it.

_Mr. Malfoy has been thoroughly checked out by myself and several people. You are allowed to question his post-war past if you are not convinced, he is to answer anything about his work, home and that's it, anything else he's not entitled to answer. Play nice._

_Shacklebolt_

Play nice? Hermione is convinced that Draco Malfoy knows absolutely nothing about being nice. But now that Shacklbolts brought up his post-war past, Hermione is curious. Best thing about it, he has to answer. Shacklebolt said so!

When she brought her attention back to Draco, she noticed him looking at the shelf behind her that was filled with books and a few photos of herself, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean and many others.

"Right, so Shacklebolt said that you've already been interviewed, perfect. But he says that I am allowed to ask about your past," Draco grunted.

"So instead of an interview, I'm now getting an interrogation?

"No, I'm just asking about your past. I'm curious to see why you're so trust worthy."

"Fine, it'll be quick so listen up. Ever since the war ended, I have been working for the Ministry. Mainly I keep a look out for any Voldemort supporters or ex-Death Eaters. I help identify people who have been brought in on suspicion of Voldemort activities."

"Explains why they trust you. But if you've been working for the Ministry for five years, how is it that I've never once seen you around here? I mean, I know this place is huge, but I have seen at least everyone who works here more than once."

"I have my own floor that is only allowed to be entered by myself and Shacklebolt. If anyone needs me, I am to go to his office. I have my own fireplace in there so I can come and go without notice and I am the only person who is allowed to apparate into Shacklebolts office."

"Wow, they must really trust you then," again, Draco looked offended by what she had said.

He gave a low growl, "I have given them no reason to not trust me."

Did he really just growl? Holy jeez. Physically, Hermione didn't tremble, but on the inside she flinched. It's weird to think that someone would growl at you, but this growl was pure hate and anger. There is no messing around with that growl.

"Just so you know, Malfoy, if you call me a mudblood even once. I will have you fired," Hermione said that with so much intensity, she actually frightened herself a little. But all _he _did was giggle. Giggle! Like a school girl! Just bloody _gig-gled_! Git. But it lasted only a short moment then went back to being cold as stone.

"Granger, if I was still running around calling people mudbloods, I wouldn't have this job. Hell, I'd be dead. Maybe worse, shut up in Azkaban. So don't be such a judge mental uppity-bitch."

It hurt, why, Hermione wasn't sure. Probably tried to convince herself that he might actually be turning into a good person during his little speech there. Oops, her mistake. The uppity-bitch part ruined it. She shook it off, they'd be working together now, and even though he irritated her more than anything on this planet, she was determined to solve this case. Absolutely determined.

"Thanks Malfoy, appreciate it. We both hate each other. So can we just at least tolerate one another in a business sort of manner?" He went back to his glaring method, good, at least that shut him up.

Basically, they spent the rest of the morning arguing as to what their first step would be. Hermione wanted to review all of the files to see if locations and dragon types made any sort of patterns. Draco wanted to go out to Romania and talk to Ron's brother Charlie. Well, "Weasel-Faces older brother Weasel-Breath" was what he actually said.

By the time lunch came around, Hermione became extremely hungry, for a break of Draco and maybe even a bagel and tea in the cafeteria. Draco agreed and apparated back to his office to eat and whatever else he did there. Probably coming up with some plan to rule the world or map out a way to his father's love, who bloody knows.

They arrived back at Hermione's office at the agreed time of twelve-thirty.

"Alright, so during lunch I was thinking-"

"Don't you always?"

"Shut up and listen. I was thinking about a compromise on our first step-"

"I was thinking the same thing," not to lie, but Hermione was shocked.

"Oh... Okay, well let's hear your compromise first."

"My compromise is that we," Draco began with an unnaturally sweet voice. "Kick your idea into the rubbish bin and we go talk to Weasel's brother! _That _is all the "compromise" you will get," ah, the anger in the last part of that statement really channelled his true self.

"How about we-"

"No."

"Would you just-"

"No."

"_Malf_-"

"_No_."

"You're hopeless."

"And you're a bitch."

As for the rest of the afternoon... Let's just say it was exactly like the morning they had to endure, except the fact that Draco said no almost every time Hermione opened her mouth. Wanker.

The following day, Hermione woke up in the study in her flat. Her head was nestled on a pile of case files and she gripped a notebook close to her. She faintly remembers seeing the clock at three a.m. but isn't too sure what time she actually passed out at. Draco was so adamant on wanting to do everything _his _way that she had to take the files home and go through them like she planned herself. She managed to get through half of them; the other half will have to wait until tonight.

Hermione sleepily stretched out her arms and managed to let a yawn slip her lips. She looked towards the window to see the bright day greeting her through the opened blinds. As she was stretching, she glanced at her wrist to see what time it was. _Ten forty-two_?! Late! She was late! Hermione has never once been late to work in her entire life! Crap, crap, crap! She fell out of her chair and raced to the bathroom. She produced a cleaning charm on herself and hurried to her bedroom to change into a burgundy cardigan with a black tank-top underneath and a dark jean knee-length skirt. Hermione barged back into her study and gathered all of the files and her notebook, making sure she separated the ones she already went through and the ones she didn't. She slipped into a pair of black shoes as she hurried to the fire place to floo to the Ministry.

As she got there, she was greeted by several people but was in too much of a rush to stop and say hello back. As she burst into her office, she saw that Draco was patiently there, waiting. He sat in the exact same chair as yesterday. This time, his shirt was white and his pants were a dark, gun-metal grey. He didn't even turn around to look at who came through the door, perhaps he was simply not that interested. Hermione walked around him and her desk and placed her bag full of files onto it then sat down herself. He looked pissed off. She couldn't really blame him... Actually, she could.

"Finally decided to show up, hmm?"

"I'm sorry for being late, but I woke up late. I was up all night studying these case files to see if there were any patterns, like I wanted to do yesterday but _someone_ thought it was a waste and that there is no point. Maybe it will turn out to be a waste but I had to try anyway! Anything at this point is helpful. So if you just agreed to help me yesterday I wouldn't have been up all night and I wouldn't have slept in and been late and for that, I take my sorry back." Hermione was out of breath at the end of her rant and was pretty sure Draco wasn't going to react well. But he just stared at her, was that all he could do?

"We're cleared by Shacklebolt to go question Charlie Weasley. We'll get a portkey from here at eight a.m. It'll be a stapler, so if you get here early, don't touch it," he got up from his chair and turned for the door.

"I thought you apparate in and out of here?"

"New system. When I walk out this door I am right back in my office and vice versa," he sounded so cold and distant. Guess that isn't anything unusual coming from him. "Bring the case files if you want. I've been through them all and there aren't any patterns," he opened the door and slammed it shut when he was through.

Hermione looked at the notes that she had already taken and concluded that he was right and there were absolutely no patterns. Damn him, how did he know? When did he get a chance to look through all of these? She spent the rest of her day catching up on stuff that she missed in the past couple of days and didn't see Draco again. By the time it was six in the evening, Hermione headed over to the Auror's Department to see if anyone was still around.

She ran into the usual people, Dean and Seamus. Both of them confirmed her thought that Ron had been absent from work since he found out about his dad. That was almost two weeks ago, Hermione wondered if he was still at the Burrow, probably. She knew Harry was around and she let herself into his office where he looked like he was thinking deeply about something.

"Hi Harry, how are you? How's everyone?"

"Oh, hi Hermione. I'm alright; everyone else in the Weasley family is still taking it pretty hard. Ron hasn't even come back to work yet."

"Yeah, I heard. Has Ginny gone back to work at least? I know that she can handle a little more than Ron."

"Yeah, she was back to work two or three days after what happened. She's strong."

"Yeah, she is," Hermione could feel herself starting to get a little emotional. "So listen, it's only six I was thinking of heading over to the Burrow. Would you like to come?" Harry looked at all of the papers on his desk and even a stack that was situated beside it and sighed.

"Yeah, I do want to go. Just, give me a couple of minutes to organize this mess and I'll be ready to go." Hermione offered to help but as always, Harry refused so she took a seat and waited for him.

Hermione and Harry were greeted at the Burrow with sad faces and few words. They spent the night comforting the wounded. Hermione even offered to make dinner that night so Mrs. Weasley could take a break. Hermione had learned a few cooking skills from her mum, the basics really. She ended up making spaghetti with a creamy tomato sauce. It was a good thing she made lots because just as she was serving Bill, Fleur, George and Angelina showed up. They gathered around the table and even made jokes like old times; Hermione thought that everyone needed a night like that. Angelina brought some of her homemade Trifle for dessert. Everyone laughed at least once that night, it was magical. Ron looks better than before; maybe he'll even come to work soon.

After dessert was done, Mrs. Weasley and Angelina told Hermione they would take care of the kitchen, they insisted. Hermione joined the boys and Ginny in the living room and later were again joined by Mrs. Weasley and Angelina. They had more laughs and soon enough it was almost nine o'clock. Bill and Fleur went home and shortly after George and Angelina left as well. Mrs. Weasley excused herself about around nine thirty and Ginny hugged Hermione and Ron good night and kissed Harry on the cheek and told him she'd see him later. That left only Ron, Harry and Hermione left in the living room.

"So Hermione, I heard that the interview process didn't go that well. And sorry to hear about who your partner is. Shacklebolt told me, I didn't know he worked at the Ministry either..."

"Interview process? Partner? What's going on Hermione?" Ron looked confused, Hermione was sure that Harry would have filled him in on what had been going on at work these past couple of weeks. Hermione looked at Harry.

"You didn't tell him?" Harry looked at her and then to Ron's scrunched up face.

"I told him everything else, just not the interview part. Or who you're partner is." Hermione felt dizzy, Ron was going to _flip_ when he hears all of this. Might as well tell him now, who knows how long she and Draco will be in Romania for.

"Ron... I," why was this so hard? It's not like they were still dating, he can't be possessive over her like this anymore. "You know about me working on this case now, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay, so I had to get a partner who could protect me and could mentally keep up with me. I had to interview several new Auror's, but none of them could have done the job."

"Alright, so where did that leave you?"

"Well Shacklebolt said that from the very beginning that if I could not find a partner, he has someone who would do perfectly well in the position that I need."

"Why didn't he just give you that person then?"

"Well, I thought the same thing. So I told Shacklebolt that everyone I interviewed wasn't fit for the position, he told me my partner would show up the next day."

"Alright, well it can't be that bad. It's not like... I don't know... Draco Malfoy popped into your office and was like, "hey Granger, guess we're partners," right?" Hermione didn't say anything; she couldn't even look at Ron. She managed to sneak a peek at Harry; he had his head down and was looking away too.

"You're kidding," Hermione kept her head down, she knew it was coming any second now. "You've got to be _FUCKING JOKING_! HOW COULD SHACKLEBOLT DO THIS? HE WAS A DEATH EATER, HE KILLED PEOPLE. AND HARRY SAYS HE'S BEEN WORKING FOR THE MINISTRY?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM? HAVE THEY ALL GONE MAD?!"

"Ron please-"

"NO! HE SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED ANYWHERE NEAR YOU!"

"Ronald, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you."

"WHAT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT HIS HOUSE?!" Hermione managed to forget that painful memory. When her, Harry and Ron were supposed to be in their seventh year of Hogwarts but instead set off to find and destroy Voldemorts horcruxes.

She still remembers the vial Snatchers that captured them. She can still hear Bellatrix Lestrange's haunting laugh in her worst nightmares. It's been five years and it still rocks her to her core if she dare think about it.

"Ron, anything that happened at the Malfoy Manor is not Malfoy's fault. As much as I'd like him gone from my life for good, he never actually did anything wrong."

"So you're defending him now, huh?"

"In this case yes, only because we _know_ that he didn't do anything! It would be different if he had! You know that! I have spent five years putting people in Azkaban, his name was never questioned."

"Fine, have a nice life with Malfoy."

"You're acting like I'm marrying him or something! We are _working_ together, nothing else! We hate each other; you don't even realize how difficult it is to get any work done with him downing everything!" The room stayed quiet for a moment.

"And since we're on the work topic, I'll be going to Romania tomorrow morning with Malfoy to go question Charlie." That did it; Hermione thought she saw the worst of Ron.

"DON'T YOU DARE! KEEP HIM AWAY FROM MY FAMILY! I'm not there for a couple days and all hell breaks loose at the Ministry."

"Well maybe if you weren't off work for two, bloody, weeks Ronald, you'd be in the know."

"MY DAD JUST DIED!"

"I know that! Why do you think I'm so determined to solve this! Get over your issues with Malfoy. Life's not fair, you should know that," Hermione got up from her chair and looked at Harry who finally lifted his head and made eye contact. "See you soon Harry."

Hermione stormed over to the fire place listening to the mumbles of a still fuming Ron. She flooed home, she didn't need to hear this.

This was the day, who knows how long she'd be gone for. Hermione enlarged a small backpack to fit inside a few books, the case files, clothes and toiletries. Anything is possible when travelling, so she intended to be prepared.

She got up at five thirty that morning to sort all that out, she had a proper shower and made sure that Crookshanks would be set. She threw on two thin long sleeve shirts, a dark grey jumper, jeans, a white scarf and a white pair of wellingtons. She thought it be best to be dressed warmly. It was December after all and Romania was sure to be cold. At a quarter to eight, Hermione wrestled to put on her dark brown winter cloak and then flooed to work, letting herself into her office and taking a seat ready for Draco at exactly eight.

Just as she looked down to her watch to check the time, someone walked into her office. Startled, she raised her eyes and there he was, on time. He sported a blue-green jumper under a midnight-black cloak and jeans as well, obviously felt the same about the cold. He carried a small black duffle bag with him as well, also prepared. Interesting bugger he is.

"Attempted to tame that head of yours?" He said while eyeing her hair and making an odd face.

"I just let it do whatever I want now, I could care less."

"I see that," and smirked. He was such an arse!

"So are we ready to go?" Draco looked in his bag and checked his pockets; made sure his family crested ring was on his finger and nodded.

Hermione looked at the stapler that was situated on her desk, directly in the center of it. Draco looked at his own watch and put his right hand on it.

"Grab on Granger, want to fucking miss it?"

Hermione scrambled putting her backpack on her shoulders and then raced to grab the stapler.

Just like every other time with travelling by portkey, she felt the tugs and pulls and spinning and finally after a few moments landed on her feet. She opened her eyes to see a lush green forest in front of her eyes, it was gorgeous.

"Never seen a forest before, Granger?"

"Yes actually, the Forbidden Forest. The one you got scared in, remember that?" She smiled at him but he just looked away and mumbled something.

"So where are the grounds we're going to?" Draco pulled a map out of his pocket and studied it. Hermione had to admit that his thinking face was quite attractive. The way his lips were left slightly apart or how they contorted into a hard, thin line. The creases on his forehead spelt curious, not old or worn. His eyes moved rapidly, taking in every bit he saw. What it would be like to see the world through his eyes... Never thought she would wonder about that.

Draco caught her looking at him, he humphed in return, embarrassed, she looked away. After a few moments of planning a route to the dragon grounds, Draco lifted his eyes to gaze upon the forest surrounding them. He lifted his left hand and pointed west.

"We'll be going that way. Try to keep up." And he set off.

Hermione, surprised at his seeker's speed, jogged after him and was soon right on his heels. Every ten minutes bother Hermione and Draco were casting warming charms into their gloves and pockets, it was absolutely freezing! They walked for about two hours before arguing to take a break. Luckily for Hermione, she won and they looked for a place to sit.

Draco took notice to a tree that had fallen. He situated himself on the ground with his legs stretched out and his back rested against the fallen tree. As he sat, he rummaged through his duffle bag and pulled out a deep green scarf and wrapped it around his pale neck. Hermione decided to sit on the tree itself. She pulled out a canteen that was three quarters full of water; she had already had some to drink when they were walking. She leaned back a little to take notice of the everlasting tree heights and the snow threatening clouds above.

"Why were you looking at me earlier?" _That_ caught Hermione completely off guard; she choked a bit on her water.

"W-what?"

"You heard me Granger, why the fuck were you looking at me like that earlier?" Hermione didn't know what to say, she couldn't admit to admiring his looks. She had to think of something else.

"I... Was trying to get a look at the map."

"You're a terrible liar."

"I'm not lying!"

"Sure you're not."

"You're so full of yourself."

"Oh, and you're not?"

"There's a difference in being proud of yourself and being a complete arse, Malfoy."

"I was thinking the same thing about you Granger." Ugh, he was such a jerk. Also, how did he know she was lying? He couldn't have, he was just hoping for her to say that.

After a couple more sips of water from her canteen, Hermione slid off the log and gestured for Draco to get moving. Of course he groaned and mumbled a bit, but eventually got himself off the ground and resumed in the leading position.

They walked for another hour in silence, the only noises that erupted where from the cracking of branches they stepped on them, the warming charms and the occasional animal.

"Malfoy, how long until we're there?"

"I don't know! I'm not one of those muggle inventions where it tells you where you're going and how long it'll take!"

"That's a GPS, Malfoy."

"I _don't_ fucking care," he growled back.

And just as soon as he did, they stumbled upon the dragon grounds. At least thirty dragons were there. They were either caged or they were on ropes, or bound in some other way. There were even a couple roaming free. Hermione marvelled at the sight of these majestic creatures. She turned to look at Draco's expression he looked unimpressed, bored even, like he'd seen this a hundred times!

"Let's find Weasel's brother and get to it."

Hermione couldn't agree more. Even though the sight was amazing, it made her nervous to be around all these dragons.

She inspected the grounds, finally spotting a tall red-headed man. She walked out into the grounds when an arm pulled her back roughly.

"Do you want to get yourself killed? Any of these dragons could go rogue. Call over someone who works here to get him." Hermione ripped her arm from his grasp.

"I can handle it, thank you."

She walked out again, taking notice of her surroundings. Luckily Charlie was away from the dragons at that point, so she hurried over to him before he left.

"Charlie Weasley?" He didn't look her way. Had he not heard her?

"Yes?"

"It's me Hermione. Hermione Granger, I'm really good friends with-" Charlie whipped around and greeted Hermione with a smile.

"Of course, I know who you are. What can I do for you?" Hermione reached for her Ministry identification card to show to Charlie.

"I work for the Ministry and we're here to ask you a few questions about your father and the incident."

"Oh, I understand. Wait... We?"

"Yes, I have a partner. He was too afraid to come out onto the grounds."

"Was not, I was being cautious. I would prefer to live," came in a third voice. Draco stopped at Hermione's side and also revealed his Ministry ID Card.

"Draco Malfoy, huh?"

"The one and only, Weasley." Charlie looked to his watch and behind him.

"I've got half an hour. We can ride those brooms into town and talk at the local pub." Hermione looked at the brooms he had mentioned. She hated flying, couldn't stand it, she was terrified!

"Uh, we can't just talk here?"

"I'm a bit hungry to be honest; it's only a quick fly into town." Hermione looked at the sky and decided that it was around twelve or one o'clock based on the suns positioning.

"I... Don't really fly."

"You can ride with me if that's better?" Hermione looked to Draco and he nodded. She felt hunger starting to stab at her stomach, he was probably feeling the same way.

"Alright," Hermione finally agreed.

They mounted their brooms and were off within minutes. Luckily Charlie exaggerated when he said the pub was a quick fly, it felt like Hermione was only in the air for a second. That worked for her.

They dismounted just outside of town and left the brooms in a tree that had been magically transformed into storing brooms for all the wizards in town.

They walked for two minutes and emerged from the trees into the streets of a small, yet busy town. The first building they came across was the local pub that Charlie had mentioned. He opened the door and let Hermione and Draco in before himself, he even ordered them their food and told them he'd take care of the bill.

"So, what sort of answers are you two looking for?" Hermione looked to Draco. They never even discussed what they were going to ask Charlie once they sought him out. Draco looked back at her and then focused on Charlie.

"First of all, you are positive that it was a non-fire breather who did this?"

"One hundred percent sure."

"From what you said the first time you were interviewed, you didn't actually see your father being burned?" Hermione could see the hurt in Charlie's eyes. It had been a few weeks since it happened, but there's no getting over that.

"No, I didn't see it."

"Than how do you know it wasn't a non-fire breather?" Draco pressed.

"One of my co-workers told me. He saw the entire thing." Draco eyed Charlie, and then looked to Hermione.

"Why didn't we question the guy who actually saw it?" He whispered to her.

"We tried but he was fired the day after and there is no one by the name that was given," she whispered back. It was Hermione's turn to ask the questions now.

"Charlie, what was the name of the co-worker who witnessed the incident?"

"Bruce Killermen." Hermione looked at Draco, but he shook his head declining any knowledge to who that was.

"Where is Bruce now?"

"No idea, he was fired the day after it happened."

"And do you know why he was fired?" Draco interjected.

"Not sure of that either, no one knows and there's no hope in hell that you'd be able to ask the boss." Draco raised his eyebrows at this.

"What is your boss's name?"

"Peter Hancock, he runs all the dragon grounds in the eastern world." Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Without even speaking, they knew what their next step would be.

"Thank you Charlie, and sorry for your loss. We'll let you continue your meal in peace. Malfoy and I have some work to attend to."

"Cheers, see you around Hermione. Malfoy."

"Later Weasley."

Draco and Hermione left the pub wrapping themselves again in cloaks and scarves. Since they decided it was only two in the afternoon, Hermione thought that they should find a place for the night.

As they walked through the little village, she noticed a building that looked almost like it could almost be a library. She looked to the signs indicating what it was to see that it was unfortunately not written in Engl... Oh, ho ho. It was! There it said in small print, _Library. _That will come in handy for later.

They continued walking until they saw another pub that was also an inn. Luckily for them, almost everything was labelled in English and the people spoke English well enough to understand. They paid for two rooms for the night, they decided that if they needed to stay longer, they'll just pay more at a different time. As of right now, one night is good. After Hermione was settled into her room, Hermione left and knocked at Draco's door.

"What Granger?"

"How did you know it was me? For all you know it could have been a maid or something."

"They would have said so. What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the library to see if we can look up more information about this Bruce Killerman?"

"Not really, I'm quite relaxed here." Ugh, lazy git.

"Fine, be back later," Hermione began to walk down the hall when she heard him yell back.

"Don't care!"

Hermione slipped out of the pubs doors and onto the streets of the busy, little town. She headed back towards the other pub that her, Charlie and Draco had a late lunch. After a few minutes of walking, she found herself in front of the library. Good thing too, it was getting to be about four o'clock and it was getting colder than it already was.

Hermione was thankful that the librarian spoke English. She managed to book some time on one of the empty computers to see if she could find out any information on this guy in the muggle world. She spent three hours looking through all of the websites that popped up that had anything to do with a Bruce Killerman. Hermione realized, after three full hours, that she might need a picture of Bruce to see if anyone looks familiar. Hermione paid a pretty penny to the librarian to allow her to print off at least fifteen pages of paper, all including pictures and addresses of many Bruce Killerman's.

It was nearing seven o'clock, she wondered if Charlie would happen to be at that one pub for dinner. Hermione decided that it wouldn't hurt to try so she made her way over there. By the time she walked into the pub doors, the night had grown dark and the air stung her skin ten times worse than earlier that day. She removed her cloak, but left the scarf on, so far there weren't any signs of Charlie at all. Hermione asked the barmaid and a few of the locals if they had seen him but no one had seen him since he took his lunch break and none of them were sure where he lived.

The time crept to half past eight before Hermione once again put on her cloak and exited the pub. She made a journey back to the inn she was staying, knocking on Draco's door to let him know what had happened. When he didn't shout back at her, Hermione put her ear to the door to listen if there was any movement at all. After a few moments passed and there were absolutely no sounds, she banged on the door but still nothing stirred in the room.

"Malfoy, open up! There is no possible way you are asleep already!" She pounded on the door a couple times before she heard footsteps behind her. She whipped around to see a staggering Malfoy; clearly he had taken upon himself to enjoy the pub downstairs.

"Hiya Granger, fancy a drink?" She could smell the alcohol from down the hall.

"Not particularly. I wanted to let you know what happened when I was at the library but obviously you are not in the right state of mind to be receiving that information."

"You were at the library?"

"My point exactly, good night Malfoy."

"Wa-wait a second. Can you make sure I get into bed?" What? WHAT? What...? He must be so drunk right now.

"You're a grown man Malfoy, you can do it yourself."

"Maybe, maybe not. Can you just- can you just unlock my door?" Hermione breathed a sigh and took the key from Draco's outstretched arm. She turned to his door, unlocked it and handed him back the key.

"Good night, Malfoy." He glared at her, and then walked into her as he attempted to walk into his door. When he finally managed to get in his room, he turned to face Hermione and growled at her.

"What was that for?" In response, he slammed the door shut. That was pleasant.

Hermione walked next door to her room and slipped out of her heavy winter clothes and into warm flannel pajama's. Thankfully the room was heated and the bed was comfy. She would definitely have a good sleep here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: **Gaaaah! It's been a while, I know, I know. Well thanks for reading and being patient and all that good stuff. I know this chapter is a bit short but I felt like it needed to end here. I appreciate your feedback! Thank you kindly!

**Disclaimer: **All belong to J.K. Rowling, this is all her.

Hermione stirred as she felt the winter sun break through her curtains and bathe on her face. She flipped her body over so she was shielded from the sun, but unfortunately, she was now wide awake.

She let out a yawn as she lifted herself from the unbelievably comfortable bed and found the bedside table. She opened her eyes to find that it was nine in the morning. Hermione threw the blanket off to the side and trudged over to the bathroom. She enjoyed a hot shower and readied herself. Once dressed, she decided to pack her things just in case they didn't need to stay another night, luckily check-out here was flexible.

Hermione slipped out of her room at around half past ten and knocked on Draco's door. He didn't answer; he couldn't possibly still be asleep. Could he...? Bugger. She knocked again a little louder this time, hoping that the only person she would be disturbing was Draco. Again, no answer. She pressed her ear to the door to see if she could maybe hear a shower running, or movement or maybe even snoring. Draco Malfoy snoring... No way, that would make him almost sound human. He probably slept like the dead. Hermione heard absolutely nothing.

She stood there in the hallway for five minutes with her arms crossed, contemplating on what to do. She stared at the door knob, wondering if he even locked his door the other night. It was possibly, he was too drunk to unlock it. Hermione reached for the door and let the knob turn with her hand. The door creaked open.

Hermione peered into the room. It looked almost identical to hers. A big wooden dresser, queen sized bed, dark wood floors and ugly wallpaper.

She couldn't see if Draco was in the bed or not from the door frame. As she stepped into the room, the smell of crisp winter air filled her nostrils. She looked to the tiny window to see it was closed. Where was the smell coming from?

She tip toed around the corner to see the very pale back of Draco Malfoy lying in his bed. As she got closer to the bed, the smell of winter grew stronger. It was him... He smelled of winter air...

She studied the lines of his back and arms that were wrapped around a white pillow that also occupied his head. His back raised and lowered slowly indicating that he was peacefully asleep. Hermione walked the length of his bed, crouching to see his face at the other end. His features were soft, not the rock hard they always were and his lips were faintly parted. She looked at his arms and really saw the strength within them. He was pure white, without a single blemish or scar... Oh, but what was that?

Hermione leaned closer to examine the side of his torso. A wide scar ran from his shoulder and all the way down his body, passing his rib cage and disappearing into the blanket. She retraced her steps and looked back to his hands. They looked worn and hard, working hands. Another scar was sketched into him; it went from between his right thumb down his hand, past his wrist and curled around his arm ending at his elbow. His right side seemed to have had a rough time.

Hermione looked to the clock on the bedside table and read eleven. She walked over to the window and threw the curtains open, hoping that would wake him up. She waited a couple seconds but no movement. Hermione was not willing to pull the blanket off of him, so she decided to use a very old tactic.

She marched over to the bathroom and filled the small emptied trash can with icy water. She stood over him, taking in one more breath of his wonderful smell and one more look of his peacefulness before ruining it. Hermione tipped the bin and let all the water rush out and greet Draco.

A scream ripped through his lips as he flailed and fell to the cold floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

Hermione jumped at his words, although they were expected, they still scared the crap out of her. She fell towards the wall and dropped the rubbish bin on the floor.

"You... You were still asle-"

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT?!"

Hermione's legs were trembling, he was absolutely _fuming_! She could have woken him up another way, but she thought it would have been a fun little experiment to see how he would have reacted. Clearly he wasn't a morning person.

He now stood in front of the small window, blocking any light that had made its way into the room. His chest was heaving and his eyes were dead set on her. She noticed that his pyjama bottoms were askew; they slightly revealed the boxers underneath. Embarrassed, Hermione shielded her eyes and heard him grunt and adjust his pants.

"Granger, that was not okay."

She removed her hand from her eyes and looked back at Draco. He stood there with his arms crossed and a snarl upon his lips.

"Sorry, you were drunk last night and I figured the best way to sober someone up is to pour cold water on them. I had read it somewhere..."

"Figured. And what do you mean by drunk... How drunk was I?"

Hermione looked at him; he really didn't realize he was drunk last night. The only reason she thought that was from the confusion in his eyes.

"Well, you wanted me to make sure you got into bed. I refused, but in the end I had to unlock your door and then when I said good night to you, you growled and then slammed the door in my face."

"I thought I dreamt that..." he said in almost a whisper. "Speaking of my door, how the fuck did you get in here?"

"It was unlocked. I figured since you were too drunk to unlock it, you'd be to drunk _to_ lock it."

He looked to the bedside table to find his wand exposed. He stepped over and swiped it. Now pointing it to Hermione's chest.

"Leave"

"Don't you dare point your wand at me," she said as calmly as possible.

"Get out, now."

Draco figured that she had seen too much of him. This was beginning to be a lot more personal than what he wanted. Sure he still had a fiery hate towards her, but he noticed things about her. Things that he wasn't sure were there before. He had to diffuse the situation, so he kept his wand in her direction.

Taken aback, Hermione slided her body against the wall until there was no more wall left. She kept her eyes locked with his and her hands at a visible place to show him no harm. She looked to his wand, the dark wood that claimed it was beautiful. It looked to be hawthorn; Hermione admired its sleek look, although she enjoyed rustic charms as well. In a way, it suited him perfectly.

"I said get the fuck out NOW," he roared.

She turned quickly and escaped his room with the door slamming behind her. Hermione made for her room and sat herself on her bed. She wasn't scared of Draco, not until then at least. His eyes were crazed and his face moulded into bewilderment. She had to be careful of what she did from now on. Not that she liked the idea of catering to his needs, but it would be best since they were partners.

Hermione looked to her watch and read ten after eleven, they needed to get going. She decided to wait ten more minutes to give him some time to cool off and then get a move on. After a few minutes Draco pounded on her door and let a low growl.

"Let's go!" His voice was harsh and raspy.

Hermione gathered her things and rushed out the door. She saw him glide past the corner and heard him stomp down the stairs. She rushed after him and then were outside of the inn and into the cold air.

Hermione had stuck with her brown cloak and white scarf while Draco had stuck to his black cloak and deep green scarf. Typical Slytherin.

They walked in silence towards the library that was right in the hub of the town square. Hermione intended to pipe up about what she had found, but decided to see what he was up to.

They took a seat at one of the tables in the library and placed their things beside them.

"So," Draco said, pulling himself closer to the table. "What do we need to do?"

"Actually, the other night when you got drunk, I managed to find some things." He snarled when she mentioned it.

"And what exactly did you find, princess?" She scoffed at his remark but fired nothing back.

"I found fifteen pages worth of Bruce Killermen's, the only problem is, we don't know which one he is."

"Let's see them."

Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out a folder that she had put all of the papers in and handed them to Draco. He quickly skimmed the pages, looking for a familiar face from the Death Eater days but nothing came up. After a while of bickering on their next move, the came to the conclusion that they needed to go back to Charlie Weasley and have him confirm a picture.

When they got to the dragon grounds, soft light snow began to fall. The sky had its grey threat all morning, but they didn't think it would actually fall.

They located Charlie immediately and questioned him on the Bruce Killermens Hermione had found.

"Nope, none of them are him."

"Did he have another name by any chance?" Draco pressed.

"Not that I know of. Listen, I gotta get back to work. We're pretty busy right now. Sorry I couldn't be of much help." Hermione forced a smile and thanked Charlie for what he had provided. Draco started to complain that he was getting hungry so they made their way back into town, to the little pub that began their trip.

Once they received their food Hermione pulled out the pages of Bruce Killermen again for her to look over.

"I doesn't make sense," she said with a mouth full of food. She felt a little like Ron doing that... Ron... He probably won't ever speak to her again the way he reacted.

"Please Granger; I don't need to see what food all chewed up looks like in your mouth." Hermione felt her cheeks get warm, oops.

"I think," Hermione began, making sure she actually swallowed her food this time. "We should go back to the Ministry and try to work with some of the Auror's to see if they had any sort of lead on this guy."

Hermione thought it was a good suggestion but Draco just looked at her and didn't reply. They finished their food and started for the pub's doors.

"I think we should just go ourselves. Fuck the Auror's, we can do it."

"And how do you think we can? We have zero information, no leads! We need to get back to the Ministry and do more research!"

"Must you always go by the book?"

"Yes, actually, I must." He let a low chuckle escape.

"Live Granger; get your nose out of the books." Then he walked off towards the forest. What was he doing? And more interesting, why wasn't he fighting her? He disagreed yeah, but he hasn't yelled at her since the other day. Weird git.

She followed him in silence back towards the dragon grounds. He walked quickly and disturbed every branch on the ground. She was starting to think he was doing it on purpose.

Upon arriving back to the grounds, Charlie saw them and waved them over, already onto their intentions.

"Sorry we keep bothering you Charlie, but need one more thing from you."

"Let me guess, Killermen's files?"

Both Draco and Hermione nodded their heads as they followed Charlie towards what looked to be an old, ratty tent. When they stepped inside, it was all done up like an office. Just like the Ministry, there were cubicals, offices and flying memos all over the place. The duo followed the red head through the chaos and eventually stopped at a large door stamped "Boss."

"Gotta run kiddies, have fun in there."

And just like that he dissapeared back into the storm of memos. Draco was the first to take inititive; he struck the door with three loud knocks and awaited a response. They heard a muffled "come in" from the other side and Draco without hesitation flung the door open.

"We're from the Ministry," Draco said flashing his Ministry ID, along with Hermione. "We're here to retrieve information on a former employee by the name of Bruce Killermen."

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. Never thought I'd see you working for the Ministry."

Draco stood stiff, finally clicking into who he was speaking to. Hermione noticed the odd exchange and decided to take the conversation into her own hands.

"Please," she paused to look at the name plate upon the desk. "Mr. Darcy. We're here to gather the files of Bruce Killernmen. It is crucial that we get them."

Darcy eyed Hermione gravely. Draco had not recognized him at first, but as soon as he got a good look at his right blind eye and heard the sound of his voice, he knew exactly who it was.

Darcy had been a friend of Draco's father. Pureblood of course and was handsomely wealthy. Mr. Malfoy and Darcy had been friends since their own years at Hogwarts; it was only when Draco turned eight that his father blinded Darcy in the right eye. Draco could faintly remember the argument between the two, but knew for sure that it had been a fight to whose son would end up marying into the Parkinson family.

It was never meant to be a physical fight, but Mr. Malfoy played dirty and Draco knew it. When Darcy wasn't looking, Draco's father pulled his wand and cast a Cruciatus curse directly at Darcy's eye and not only tortured him, but blinded him.

In the end, Mr. Malfoy won that battle and it was rumoured that Darcy was ashamed of his life as a Death Eater and what had happened to him that he moved his family to Romania and no one had seen him since.

"I'd like to speak to Mr. Malfoy alone please."

"But Sir, we really need-"

"You will obey my wishes and then I may fulfil yours Miss. Granger."

Hermione was confused and a little frightened. She looked at Draco for guidence but he had not changed his expression since he walked in the room. She stood there still unwilling to move.

"Wait outside," Draco whispered to her. She looked at him wide-eyed.

"What's this all about, Malfoy? I'm not-"

"Go Granger, it's not your problem."

She looked between the two men and decided to listen to Draco once he gave her a half angry and half worried look.

She turned to exit when she unexpectedly put her hand on Draco's tensed arm.

"Remember we're partners, I'm right outside if you need-"

"I'll be fine."

"Okay."

She nodded to Darcy and removed her hand from Draco's arm and silently shut the door behind her. Her fingertips tingled still from the unexpected contact with Draco. What was her problem?! Why'd she do that! Maybe it was that look he gave her; he looked like a small child, so afraid. All she wanted to do was hold him and sing to him and tell him everything would be all right. But on the other hand, it was Draco Malfoy...

Once Hermione left, Draco put his hand to the spot on his arm where Hermione just had been. The shirt was still warm from her touch under his icy fingers. It was weird, he didn't want her to leave, but he knew it would get ugly and then her hand... He could have paused that moment and put it on reply a million times and still feel tingly.

He put the thought out of his head and returned his attention to the fat, bald man with the crooked nose sitting behind the desk.

"Been a while Mr. Malfoy. Last time I saw you, you weren't old enough to be addresed as that."

"Last time I saw you, you were about fifty pounds lighter." Darcy chuckled.

"Touche, Mr. Malfoy." Draco stood in silence, keeping his eyes locked and stance ready for anything.

"You may relax Mr. Malfoy. I mean no harm. Please, have a seat."

Draco hesitated, but eventually gave into his aching back from all the walking he and Hermione had endured in the last two days and sat quitely.

"So I must ask, before we get down to business here. Your father? What has he made of himself?"

"He's in Azkaban."

"Sorry to hear that. I know he was involved in some horrible stuff, but it must be awful to not have your father around."

"I help put him in there actually. During the war I commited no real crimes and agreed to help the Ministry put away Death Eaters and eventually started getting paid for it."

"That sounds like a good deal. I knew I was right to leave when I did. I never wanted that exposure to my family, I hated being so full of hate. I hated the lables too."

"I heard the rumours."

"Yes. Well, I saw that little exchange between you and Mrs. Granger. What would Pansy think?"

"Miss. Granger actually and as for Parkinson, she's in Azkaban."

"Oh? What happened?"

"I helped put her there. She doesn't deserve the light of day." Darcy eyed him carefully.

"What did she do?" Draco sat a mute for a few seconds before clearing his throat to answer.

"She was a Death Eater. Also had many other charges against her, it had to be done."

"I see, well good man then."

"Darcy, can I just get what I want from you and go on my way."

"All right, all right. What did you come for?" Draco gave him the details as to why they were in Romania and stated what they wanted.

"Bruce Killermen's files, hmm? I believe I got those around here. Hold on a tic." Darcy swivled in his chair and faced the filing cabinets behind the desk. He threw open one of the middle drawers and viciously raced through the files.

Withen a couple of seconds, his process slowed down and came to a complete stop. Draco leaned in his chair to see what he was doing but could only see that there was a file in front of him but couldn't see anything else.

"Darcy, hand it over." Darcy let out a low grunt followed by a haunting laugh.

"I could do that Mr. Malfoy, but it really wouldn't do you much good." Darcy faced Draco and tossed the file right at him. Draco nabbed it from the air and ripped it open to find its contents bare.

He sifted through the papers to find each and every one of them blank. The only thing that was still writtin in the file was Killermen's name.

"What happened to it Darcy?"

"I have no idea, but from years of being a Death Eater, I might have a clue."

"What are you on about old man?"

"Well, _young_ man. I'm saying that what I remember distinctly from my Death Eater years is that if there were any papers or files on my fellow Death Eaters that we found, we earased them."

"So that's what you're saying happened here?"

"I believe so Mr. Malfoy. When we had the task of eliminating information, we cast a Vanishing charm on said material. I will show you." Darcy ripped a piece of blank paper from a nearby note book and scribbled a few words upon it.

"Evanesco Verbis"

As Draco watched, the words on the paper slowly sunk into the page and disappeared.

"And if you wanted them to come back," Darcy said as he tapped his wand to the paper. "Verbis" And just like that the words were back.

"So does this mean that we can get that information back?"

"If he were smart I would say not. I really should start spell proofing my documents."Darcy grabbed a blank piece of paper from Killermen's file and tried bringing back the words, but nothing appeared.

"So why can't you bring back those words?"

"Well, Mr. Malfoy. If you want to have them permanently removed, you would than cast the Evanesco Verbis Maxima charm. That way there is absolutely no trace of them and no way to bring them back."

"Interesting, well do you have any idea as to who might know his where abouts or even who his last employer was?"

"As a matter of fact I do."

* * *

Hermione sat on the edge of her seat just outside of Darcy's office. It was loud within the tent so she couldn't hear a word exchanged between the men on the other side of the door. She looked to her watch and realized that it had been almost half an hour since she was kicked out. She should march right back in there and demand to be taken seriously.

As she made her decision, Draco walked out of the office with a smug look on his face. But once they made eye contact, the rush of memories back half an hour ago when she touched his arm came bolting into his mind. He dropped the look and replaced it with his usual hard stare.

"What did you find out?"

"Long story short, we're going to Canada."

"What for exactly? I need to know the details Malfoy; you can't just kick me out of a room and not expect me to ask questions!"

"Fine!" He walked on and left Hermione to follow after him. "Can't talk here though, what time is it?" Hermione checked her watch and announced that it was about noon.

"Perfect, we'll travel the muggle way to Canada only because I'm not sure entirely as to where we are going. We'll need to go back to that library and use one of the muggle screen things and book our flight. We can do that, right?"

"A computer? Yes, we can book our flight from the computer."

"Let's get going, I'll tell you what happened while we're walking."

Hermione and Draco exited the tent and were again thrust into the cold weather. From there they had no problems crossing the grounds and soon enough were back into the lush forest. As they walked, Draco mentioned the relation between him and Darcy. He did however leave out the fight that happened between his father and Darcy and explained the Evanesco Verbis charm that Darcy had shown him.

As soon as they got to the library, Hermione claimed a computer and booked a flight that would leave Bucharest, which ending up being a three hour broom ride from where they were, to Vancouver, Canada.

Hermione was still clueless as to where they were going, and to be honest, so was Draco.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:**Oh my goodness, I know! Sorry it's been so long. I got writers block and then today I magically started writing and pounded out 3000 words. SO, again, sorry it's been a while. I'll start on the next chapter soon. Leave me feedback

**Disclaimer:**All belong to J.K. Rowling, this is all based on her work.

"Why Canada? Who's there?"

"Guess we'll find out."

"Are you kidding me?" Hermione turned and faced the little window and peered at the sea below her.

They had been flying for a good five hours now. That meant thirteen more hours to go. For duration of their flight they spent it either arguing or ignoring one another. They were the only two in their row which was sort of nice, but became awkwardly uncomfortable sometimes. She still wasn't used to him and his new outlook on life.

During the last couple hours of their flight they, of course, quarrelled about something stupid then fell asleep. Draco woke to find Hermione asleep on his shoulder and his arm situated across hers. He slowly removed his arm, trying to avoid the embarrassment for the pair of them. It was almost nice though, he hadn't felt needed like that for a long time. He remembered that is was Hermione however and buried the thoughts deep in his mind.

_We will be landing at the Vancouver Airport shortly_. Draco wiggled the shoulder that was still under Hermione to wake her up. She jolted out of her sleep wand at the ready. She looked bewildered and slowly her cheeks grew cherry red.

"I... Uh... Are we landing soon?"

"About fifteen minutes."

"Oh, alright then, thanks I suppose." She turned away from him to gather herself and conceal her wand again.

"Sorry about-"

"Don't worry about it." Was that a smile? A quick flash of a smile?! From Draco Malfoy? A smile! What is this world coming to?!

* * *

Once they got through customs and gathered their bags, they found out that is was roughly around nine in the evening. They figured they would get a hotel somewhere right by the airport for the night and journey on the next morning.

After two hours of looking, they finally managed to obtain a room in a little motel. It had only one queen sized bed and the motel provided a roll-a-way bed.

"Have fun sleeping on that little bed Malfoy."

"Not a hope in hell, you're sleeping on that."

"Not a chance."

"Well there's no way you're getting the master bed."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because it's for the master," he said with a smirk.

"Right..."

"I get that bed because you had my shoulder to sleep on. You owe me." He instantly regretted bringing that up once it escaped his lips. Hermione was left speechless, she never thought they'd have to talk about that.

Without another word, Hermione went into the washroom and came out dressed in long, deep purple pyjama bottoms and dark grey t-shirt. She kept her eyes away from Draco's and curled up in the little bed.

Instantly Draco opened his mouth to protest her sleeping there, but nothing came out. This is how it needed to be, him the prick and her the bitch. One needed to win in these situations and he won this time.

He went into the washroom and changed into long, green bottoms and a white t-shirt. Draco snuck a peak at Hermione to see that she was fast asleep on her side facing _away _from his bed. He felt some sort of odd guilt in a way for bringing up that embarrassing moment for her on the plane. He pushed the thoughts away and crawled into bed silently celebrating his guilty victory.

Hermione woke in the morning to hear Draco thrashing about in his bed. She leapt up at once to wake him out of his sleep. He nearly clocked her in the face a few times, but eventually she became frustrated and decided to slap the b'jesus out of the poor guy to get him up. As soon as her hand and his cheek collided, he woke instantly. His eyes burned holes through her. She could feel pure hate emanating from his very soul.

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU SLAP ME?"

He was quick, he was on his feet and had Hermione pressed against the wall within half a second. She thought she was going to get hurt this time for sure. He was just staring at her, and Hermione found it hard to look him in the eye. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, she managed to glance his way and he caught her eye. The so well known grey that his eyes were, turned to these dark, stormy shields. His anger suddenly turned to sorrow; he looked like he had figured something out in his head and failed to let Hermione know as he stalked off towards the bathroom leaving Hermione dumbfounded still pressed against the wall.

"HEY, YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT!"

He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his attention towards her. Ah, there was the hateful look in his eyes again.

"What did you say?" Hermione looked down to her feet nervously.

"I said you can't do that."

"I CAN'T GET MAD AFTER YOU SLAPPED ME OUT OF MY SLEEP?"

"I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO SLAP YOU-"

"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE!"

"DRACO, I WAS WORRIED ABOUT-" He sniggered.

"You were worried about me?" She looked at him disgustingly. He knew why she had to, she could tell by the look in his eye

"What are you hiding?"

"Why do you care?"

"Well, if you're constantly going to have these night terrors-"

"They're not night terrors. I'm not hiding anything. I've seen things Granger. Don't concern yourself with me."

"I... I'm not," she said slightly embarrassed. "It's just bad for someone's health and it can suck."

He gritted his teeth and continued into the bathroom slamming the door behind him. Hermione wasn't sure what his deal was, but he needed to control himself.

After the pair had gotten cleaned and dressed, they packed up their things and headed for the brisk cold air that filled the streets of Vancouver.

"Where to now?" Hermione questioned Draco.

"Surrey," he mumbled back.

"Wait... Surrey? We're going back to England?"

"No, apparently there is a town here called Surrey. It's not that far from Vancouver apparently. We'll catch a cab and be there in fortyish minutes." Draco flagged a taxi down and started to load the bags into the back of the car and helped himself to the front seat to avoid sitting next to Hermione for the next hour.

This suited her perfectly well. She took the time gawking at all the lovely sights that British Columbia has to offer. Draco was right about the time they would arrive in Surrey.

"Welcome to Surrey. This is the Whalley area," the cab driver announced.

The sights went from pleasant to horrible. Run down buildings and suspicious people on every corner. This was nothing like home, nothing.

The cabbie pulled into a large parking lot across from apartment buildings. The pavement was cracked and the building at the end of the lot was scary, to say the least.

"Alright, your stop."

Draco payed the man and grabbed the bags from the car and threw Hermiones towards her. She was still getting out of ther car when he did so, so her bag landed with a great thud in front of her feet.

"You could have waited until I at least got out of the car!"

He smirked in her direction, "I _could _have."

They stood there, bag in hand watching the yellow car speed out of the lot and back onto the road. They studied the apartment building across the street assessing its new state. They were taken by surprise at the sight of the building that they really were about to enter.

"What the hell is Pancho and Lefty's?"

"Looks like a bar to me," Draco replied.

He started in the direction of the building leaving Hermione to wonder about what awaited them behind those big ugly doors. Soon enough she followed along and made sure to stay close to Draco, but not too close.

She could feel her own heart race faster and her breathing becoming heavier. Over her own sounds, she couldn't tell if Draco was having the same problems.

They stopped in front of the big wooden doors and caught their breath. Draco gave a stern look to Hermione to calm down and then pounded his fist on the door. Silence followed and after a minute Draco knocked again, this time hearing something stir from the other side.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!"

Whoever the hell was on the other side sounded as drunk as could be. Soon the door creaked open and a young fellow with blonde hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail and a scruffy jaw line appeared before them. The smell of alcohol was strong and the smell of B.O. happened to be even stronger.

"Who the hell are you?" the man barely managed to ask them.

" I'm Malfoy," Draco said then pointed to Hermione. "This is Granger. We're here to see Big Al." The man squinted his eyes in their direction, either in suspicion or for the fact that it was bright outside and seemed to look like a cave on the inside. He stepped to the side and opened the door a little more suggesting they could enter.

Draco looked at Hermione and nodded but that didn't make her feel any better about entering into this deep dark cave of a bar with Mr. B.O. escorting them.

"I'm Jerry by the way, welcome to Pancho and Lefty's. Surrey's best bar for local bands and just plain partying!" he said laughing.

"People actually come here..?" Hermione whispered to herself but Draco heard and smirked.

"Here ya go big guy, Big Al's office."

"Yeah, thanks."

Jerry walked off stumbling a few times and headed into another room just down the hall.

"Okay," Draco said turning his attention to Hermione, "I'll go in there and talk to him and you just wait here."

Hermione was about to smack him! How dare he be the one to keep talking to these people! No way, not this time.

"I don't think so, last time I let you talk to someone on your own it lead us to this dump. I still don't even fully know what happened in that office. I am going in with you and you're going to deal with it, okay?"

She knocked on the door and heard a grunt from the other side accepting them in. Hermione took advantage of being closer to the handle and let herself enter first.

The smell of smoke and beer were stronger in the cramped office. The carpet was red and plush and the walls were a stained beige.

"Sit, sit," the man behind the desk said with a cigar hanging out the side of his mouth. He didn't even raise his eyes at their arrival.

Hermione and Draco set their bags by the door and each took a chair that was sitting in front of the desk. Both chairs squeaked in protest to their weight but seemed to hold still when settled.

"What are you doing here Mr. Malfoy?" Big Al said finally connecting eyes with his guest and putting his cigar out.

Hermione looked at Draco, "_I thought you didn't know who we were coming to see!" _Hermione whispered.

"I didn't!"

"He's right Miss Granger, he didn't know."

Hermione looked at the stranger, "how do you know our names?"

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Al, or as a lot of people call me, Big Al. I know who you are because I was have spies all around Vancouver airport who let me know if any magical people from England come here. It's a security reason," he said with a wink in Hermione's direction. "And don't try and hide the magic shit from me, I'm a squib, I know all about you people."

"So," Draco broke the silence after the shock of they had just heard. "Let's just get what we came for then."

"And what is that?"

"Information," Hermione said.

"Alright Miss Granger, what can I help you with?"

"Well, we're looking for information on a man you may know, Bruce Killermen he-"

"He is a friend of my family and we're tracking him down to let him know of some very valuable information," Draco interjected.

Hermione looked at Draco confused but he gave her a wide eyed look that looked a lot like she shouldn't say anything else.

"Is that right...?"

"Yes," Hermione said, "it is."

"Alright Sweetie, well I have some info on your guy. But it really isn't much."

"That's alright," Draco said.

"I wonder though, if I give you my information, do I get anything in return?"

"What do you mean Al?"

"_Big_ Al, Mr. Malfoy."

"Fine, what do you fancy _Big _Al?"

"A date with the Miss over there-"

"NO, NOT A CHANCE!" Hermione stood in protest.

"Fine, fine. I didn't think it would have worked out with you anyway," that's when Hermione sat back down with the feeling of her cheeks becoming unnaturally warm. "But I will take some information from you back."

"What do you want to know?" Hermione could hear the agitation in Draco's voice. It didn't really surprise her either; she was about as fed up with this guy as he was.

"I want to know what happened to all those Death Eaters after Voldemorts death. I hear you have helped put them away Mr. Malfoy."

"That's correct, can we move on?"

"Not quite, I hear you put away a lot of people, your father and lover included. Is that true?"

Draco tensed up at the sound of his question. He don't know if he was more irritated at the fact he was asked that question or that he just _had _to add _lover_ into it.

"Yes to my father and no, I do not know what you mean by lover."

"I hear she was a school sweetheart or something like that."

Hermione was so confused at the situation. She tried to think back to all the people her, Draco and her team had put away. Draco's father was for sure one of them... But school sweetheart... Who was he with during their Hogwarts years... Man that was a long time ago... Oh no... Pansy?! Pansy Parkinson?! Hermione must have had her "I-figured-it-out" face because both Big Al and Draco were giving her odd looks.

"Sorry, I uh, lost my train of thought. Spaced out for a second."

"That's alright Sweetie," Big Al said smiling.

"What information do you have on Bruce Killermen, Big Al?"

"Ouuu, touchy subject Malfoy?"

"Just answer the damn question!" Draco said pounding his fist on the corner of the desk.

"Fine, all I know is that the last place he was seen was in Australia. He came here to visit me. He had previously worked in this bar but left unexpectedly."

"He worked here?" Hermione questioned.

"That he did, he was always a good employee. Did what he was told, but never made friends with the other workers."

"Why did he leave?"

"Not a clue. Like I said he left unexpectedly. No notice, no letter, no explanation, no _goodbye_."

"Did anything happen before he left?" Draco took a turn at questioning.

"Well Malfoy. There was a murder here, out in the parking lot. It shook up all the workers here. All of Surrey was in shock. The guy who was killed worked here. He was a wizard, family friend."

"Wizard... Interesting," Hermione thought aloud. "But why was all of Surrey in such shock."

"Well Miss, the story around here is that a creature that looked like a miniature dragon attacked him by the control of another man."

"A miniature dragon... Really?"

"Yes Malfoy, really. I'm not lying about this. Of course all of Surrey is still confused about this but I believe it. I believe it especially after that kill in Romania I heard about. Dragon there too wasn't it?"

"So we've heard," Hermione said looking towards Draco.

"Would you by any chance have any records left about Killermen?"

"I might," Big Al said as he got up and walked around his desk to the filing cabinet by the door. "But it looks like magic has attacked the hell out of it."

"What do you mean?" Draco's voice clearly filled with anger.

"The papers in here are blank."

Draco and Hermione looked at one another putting pieces silently together.

"Have I missed something?" Big Al asked looking at the pair of them.

"No," Hermione responded. "Not at all. But we've got all of our information I reckon, so, thank you Big Al," she said as her and Draco were vacating their seats, picking up their bags and heading out the door.

"Okay, well. Feel free to come back tonight for a drink Sweetie. You too I guess Malfoy."

"All over it, Al," were Draco's last words as they were rushing out of the bar.

A few hours later Draco and Hermione found themselves sitting in a local restaurant.

"You heard exactly what he said! Both cases involved Killermen working at a place with no wrong doings and then bam, all of a sudden he's gone when a murder happens."

"I'm just surprised he would go as far as doing it in a muggle world," Draco added.

They immediately quieted down when the waitress with the arms covered in tattoo's returned.

"Can I get you," looking at Draco, "and your, uh, date any dessert?"

"We're not a couple. We just... work together," Hermione replied.

The waitress looked like her world was complete once more but then was shot back down when Draco replied in the negative.

They left the restaurant without having any fights and satisfied that they actually agreed on the information they found and how it all fits together. It wasn't until they were back at the hotel did they get into it.

"So Big Al brought up an interesting point today."

"Jesus, what the fuck are you doing in my room Granger?!"

"We have adjoining rooms... But anyway, don't get off topic."

"What was the topic?"

"'Your school sweetheart' is the topic Malfoy."

Draco turned on his heel and faced Hermione who was already in her pajamas at 8 pm.

"What do you mean?"

"He was talking about Pansy wasn't he?"

Hermione could see any civil-ness that was between the two of them run out of the room screaming at full speed.

"Why the hell are you bringing that up?"

"I just... I saw your face when he mentioned her-"

"NO, YOU HAVE NO FUCKING RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT HER!"

"WHY NOT MALFOY? SHE'S NOT HERE-"

"THE HELL SHE ISN'T, SHE'S IN AZKABAN!"

"YOU PERSONALLY ASKED THE MINISTRY TO PUT HER THERE!"

"I KNOW," Draco yelled, he looked like he was on the verge of tears. "I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AND I KNOW WHY SHE'S IN THERE!"

"You never said why you wanted her in there! We found out later that she was a definite Death Eater. But before that, you never said why."

"I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU FUCK ALL GRANGER!" GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM!"

"I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND PANSY!"

Draco looked flushed, "why do you care?"

"I...-"

"YOU DON'T CARE! YOU JUST WANT TO GET INTO EVERYONES BUSINESS!"

"Malfoy, I'm sorry-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

He grabbed his jacket, room key and slammed the door on his way out. Hermione felt bad for prying, but no one gets that mad out of nowhere over nothing.

* * *

"Malfoy, I see you're back. My invite was really for Miss Granger, but you're welcome to a drink on the house," Big Al said from behind the bar.

"Thanks," he said after the first swig of his drink.

"So what does bring you back? Feel like talking about that sweetheart you locked away?"

Draco eyed him behind his glass and responded with a fuck off.

"Just asking buddy. So what's going on with you and Miss Granger?"

Draco nearly choked on his drink. He hadn't thought of Hermione in any sort of significant way since he woke up on the plane and she was sleeping on his shoulder. Even then he was trying to deny those little moments in his own head.

"There is nothing going on between me and Granger."

"Is that right? She got a man or something?"

He smirked, "she's only had one man and that man was an idiot. Barely worthy of the man title."

"How so?"

"Well," Draco began, "he is not what everyone thinks him to be. I think him and Granger lasted maybe a year from what I hear."

"So now that the other guy is gone, does that mean you want some of that?"

"Fuck no, her bossiness, bitchiness and hair are too much for me."

That was Big Al's turn to choke on his drink. He was laughing so hard he nearly fainted. The drunk Jerry that had lead them in earlier had to catch Al as he was going down. Poor Jerry, he probably weighed a quarter of the amount Al did. But after that little incident Draco changed settings and took a seat beside a sexy blonde in a black dress. They talked for a few minutes before he saw the ring on her left hand and the man that came along with it. He decided to save himself and his drink and head back towards the bar where he believe Jerry was still crushed under a very screwed up Big Al.

"What's your poison, baby?"

Draco took his attention away from his empty glass and fixed his eyes on the young bar maid that looked strangely a lot like Pansy, but cleaner and sexier. Her hair was long and dark, her eyes the same. She wore a skimpy t-shirt that read "Pancho and Lefty's"and had a red lipped smile on her face.

"Not sure, Drunk Al over there gave it to me. Some sort of beer."

She grabbed the glass from him and ran her finger along the bottom and stuck it in her mouth.

"Mmmm," she said licking her lips, "you've got yourself a Kokanee, babe. Let me fill that up for you." She walked to the other end of the station and poured the beer into his existing glass and brought it back with some foam sliding down the side.

"What is someone as pretty as you doing in this shit hole?" she said with a pouty look on her face.

"I was thinking the same of you," Draco said as he sucked back half his beer.

"That's sweet baby, but we girls have to work. Us hotties can't all work at Hooters."

Draco laughed as he drank a little more, "what's your name?"

"My name is Candice but everyone here calls me Candy. What about you hun?"

"I'm Draco."

"Draco, that's your real name?"

He was a little taken aback by the comment. Guess it wasn't a very common name but he never had been questioned about it before.

"Yeah, that's my real name."

"Draco means dragon, doesn't it?"

"It does."

Candy looked funny at Draco, almost like she had discovered the biggest secret of all.

"Baby, follow me would you?"

Draco left his drink at the bar and followed Candy down the familiar hallway and right into the room he had already been in earlier that day.

"Okay," she said in a voice that sounded nothing like the pouty sexy voice she put on out at the bar. "I knew I would find you. My name is Vie, I work for the Ministry of Magic. Vancouver has its own headquarters because the wizarding population here has grown over the last ten years or so, but that's not the point. I have news on that guy Bruce Killermen."

* * *

Hermione had obviously forgotten to close the curtains before she went to sleep last night because the eastern morning sun had woken her quite early. She couldn't even get her eyes fully open until she heard the adjoining door fly open with Draco on the other side of it.

"Al was lying to us."

"W-what are you talking about, Malfoy?"

"While you were sleeping at eight o'clock at night, I was working!"

"Where did you go? I waited for you to say that I was sorry and I-"

"Whatever it doesn't matter, all that matters right now is that Al was lying and we have a new lead to follow."

"Wait a second," Hermione said pulling herself out of bed. "How do you know this information?"

"I went back to the bar last night and I was talking to a girl who works there. She willingly drank my personal Veritaserum to prove she wasn't lying."

"Uh, well, okay. Where do we go?"

"We have to get to Las Vegas."

"Are you serious?! Do you know how many people there are in Vegas?"

"Granger, don't argue with me. We're going, now!"

Draco and Hermione packed their things quickly and got a cab over to the local library. From there Hermione was able to book two tickets to Vegas but they unfortunately were having troubles due to the weather in Vancouver. It was a miracle that it was so close to Christmas and there was actually snow on the ground here they had been told.

They decided to see if they could get a flight out of somewhere else but the Bellingham airport in Washington State was in the same condition, they were just going to have to wait. Unless, Hermione thought, unless they rented a car to drive down there. Who knows how long they were going to have to wait to get a flight.

Within three hours of trying to convince Draco that her idea was a good one, they rented a car and began their 20 hour drive to Vegas. With Draco driving and Hermione in the passenger seat they set off dreading the long drive. But they felt that getting there by car was going to end up being faster than by plane.

They drove into the night and Draco couldn't handle it anymore. He pulled into a Washington Wal-Mart where they saw a bunch of other campers, RV's and trailers stationed for the night. He looked over and saw Hermione curled up as much as possible in the seat next to him. He reached around to the back seat and brought up two blankets for them. He chose the plushier one for Hermione and draped it across her and took the thinner one for himself. He didn't mind or really care. Just as long as they didn't freeze to death during the night, they would be fine.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** GUYS, I am on a freaking roll! Happy reading! Leave comments, much appreciated!

**Disclaimer:** All belong to J.K. Rowling, this is all based on her work.

Hermione kicked out of her sleep as the sounds of blasting car horns screamed at her. The scenery was rushing past them and other cars were doing just the same.

"What the hell Malfoy?" she asked, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Fucking idiot drivers."

She yawned in response and pulled the blanket closer to her chest. The man on the radio stated that it was almost noon, how long has he been driving for? She closed her eyes again but found it difficult to sleep knowing half the day was gone.

"Do you want me to drive?"

"No"

"Really, Malfoy, I can drive," she looked at his sleepy features. "You need to sleep." He scoffed at her remark.

"Don't tell me what I need. Alright, Granger?"

"Fine"

The winter scene caught Hermione's attention. The snow was gorgeous and they were lucky that the roads weren't too bad; it looks like it snowed over night. They were heading over a bridge that was welcoming them to Oregon State, guess he's been driving for a while. Hermione pulled the map out and looked at his progress; he had _definitely _been driving for a while.

"Can we stop in Portland to eat and stretch our legs?"

"I guess," he replied as if annoyed that the idea of eating wasn't necessary in the least bit.

Soon they were in the Downtown core of Portland. They came across many cafes, but there was no parking what so ever.

"Maybe go to the outskirts of Portland and we can find something?" Hermione suggested.

Draco grunted in response and drove for half an hour more until they found a little restaurant with parking available. The sign read Doug's Diner, seemed like a cool little place. They entered the 50's style doors and were seated in the back. There were no other people in the restaurant besides the waiter and whoever else was in the back. The waiter came back with drinks and took their orders. So far this place was better than that bar back in BC.

When the waiter brought their food, he seemed a little off.

"Here's your food, Mr. Malfoy"

Hermione and Draco looked at each other instantly and drew their wands.

"How do you know my name?"

The waiter dropped to the floor screaming. His hands had curled around his head and he was pulling at his hair. He would be formed in a ball one second and then sticking his legs out at another. The poor waiter was convulsing uncontrollably by the time Hermione reached him.

Draco spotted two men with wands leaving entering the dining area from the kitchen. He grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her under the table.

"Wait here," he said.

"What is going on?!" she screamed back.

Draco appeared out from under the table to see the two men standing only a few tables away. The waiter hadn't survived the Cruciatas curse.

"We meet again Malfoy," the taller man said.

"Heard you have been looking for us," said the other.

"Only meant to serve you poisoned food there mate, didn't think our cover'd be blown that quickly."

"Who the hell are you?" Draco asked, tightening his grip on his wand.

"Aww, don't know our faces? We're on your list for Azkaban. Thought we'd be safe out here."

Before Draco could even reply, curses were being yelled by the two men and they were heading in his direction.

"GRANGER RUN!"

Hermione flew out from under the table to only send curses back at the two men. This time it was her turn, she grabbed his arm and they made a mad dash for the door. Between short breaths, they were both turning to dodge and send spells flying through the air. They made it out of the restaurant and out the doors. The men were at their heels within seconds.

"This way," Hermione said pulling him down the alley.

They ran until their legs were on fire. They hid behind a garbage bin until the men ran past them.

"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled wand in the men's direction. The both of them went down with a harsh thud to the concrete. Draco ran up to them and found the blast to their heads so great that it cracked their skulls. The river of red pooled and that was the end of them. Hermione ran to Draco and collided in embrace. Draco's breath was quick. It all happened so fast. But thank God for Hermione, thank you lord. Draco's arms were tightly wrapped around her waist, he felt like her legs were going to give way under the pressure of his weight on her. She was holding tightly around his neck. They were so close that their breathing had to be at opposite times otherwise they couldn't breathe at all. She felt weak, she let her legs collapse and they stumbled until Hermione's back collided with a wall. Her face was rested under his jaw, she could hear his heart beat, she could feel it racing. Draco's mouth was near her ear; Hermione could feel his quick breaths and hear the panic behind them and the quiet thank you's he was repeating. She whispered back welcomes and they parted enough to see each other's faces. He looked worn and battered. She had never seen him look so innocent or frightened. Whatever he was truly thinking or feeling, it made his eyes look breath taking. She hugged him again and to her surprise, he hugged back.

"I'm glad you're okay," she whispered to him.

He hummed in response and hugged her tighter, that was a freakin' close call. After their embrace, they shied away from each other, not knowing which was more of a shock, the psychotic wizards or their hug. They agreed to send the bodies back to London and go on with their travel.

Draco snatched up their wands and sent the unnamed wizards to St. Mungo's with an official note to the Ministry about what happened. They called the cops for the young waiter but left before they got there; it wasn't fair to just leave him there. They managed to grab a bit to eat someplace else and were fortunately not disturbed this time round. Once they paid the lady, they were back on the road with Hermione in the driver's seat.

"I don't need sleep you know," Draco murmured under his breath.

"Actually, you do. The bags under your eyes are so black, you need rest."

He swore in protest but was out like a light as soon as they got back onto the highway. Hermione drove in peace, making excellent time and felt confident that she was headed the right way.

Draco made some sounds in his sleep, almost like whining mixed with a groan. Hermione looked over to him and he had a distressed look on his face, it wasn't long after before Draco began screaming in his sleep and thrashing about. His hair was a mess and his skin was glistening. He must be having awful things running through his head she thought.

Hermione pulled to the side of the road to wake him, but it wasn't working. He kept on thrashing about until he clocked her in the face. Hermione was knocked out by the blow and landed face first into the steering wheel. Everything went black.

* * *

Draco could hear little murmurs from Hermione beside him. There was a large bruise on her forehead and another on her cheek. The purple and black emphasized the horror on her face when she woke. Her eyes fluttered open to see Draco looking at her, this time she was in the passenger's seat and he was back in the drivers. When the hell did that happen?

"Granger? Are you alright?"

Hermione just moaned, moving her hand to her head then cheek and then remembered what happened.

"Jesus Malfoy! Why did you punch me? You're such an asshole!" she said harshly.

"I know I am, but I was asleep and when people try to wake me, it doesn't turn out well. So in all honesty, you shouldn't have come anywhere near me."

"ARE YOU KIDDING? YOU WERE SCREAMING MALFOY, SCREAMING!"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY FOR YOU TO WAKE ME UP!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHO THE HELL KNOWS WHAT YOU WERE GOING THROUGH! I WAS TRYING TO HELP!"

"Tried yet failed Granger.."

She couldn't help but slap him across the face. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes, she just wasn't sure why. She was fumbling with the car door, trying to get it unlocked so she could get out and get some air. Draco tried grabbing her arm on the way out, but she slipped by and out the door she went. She ran into the open desert air just off the highway, clearly they had made it into Nevada State when Hermione was sleeping. She ran as far as she could and then fell to her knees in the orange dirt. She could no longer fight back the tears anymore, she let them come.

Ever since her break-up with Ron, all she has wanted to do was feel needed by somebody. He was a little too needy, but still. She didn't have her parents anymore; she was a long ways from home and with none other than Draco Malfoy. She wanted to be useful, that was all she wanted. But what did she get? An ungrateful remark and a punch to the face. She was thankful that she wasn't wearing any make-up that day because she was sure she would be a mess. She was already a mess, and being stuck in the desert with Draco was nothing spectacular.

"Granger?!" she could hear Draco's voice carry through the open lands. She refused to reply, let alone even look back at his face. She knew it was risky trying to wake him after what happened the first time. She just couldn't stand seeing him in pain; she could stand seeing _anyone_ in pain.

"Granger, I'm sorry," he said out of breath from the running. She still didn't look at him.

He knelt down beside her and rubbed the bruise on her cheek lightly with his thumb. She jerked her head away from the pain and heaved heavy breaths to try and calm herself down.

"Hey," he said, grabbing her face in his hands, "I don't say sorry to anybody, let alone you. When I say it I mean it okay?"

She looked at his grey eyes and saw the tears within them. She removed his hands from her face and leaned into his body embracing him. He wiped at his eyes and tried to pull away from her but she kept a firm grip.

"I don't need your sympathy Granger."

"I know you don't and I'm not giving it. I'm just taking it all in with you."

He eventually gave up and wrapped his arms around her in return. She could feel the muscles tense around her, she felt oddly safe in his arms. When they parted she asked how his face was after her slap and he retorted that she has done worse and they laughed about that all the way to the car.

They arrived in Vegas within the next couple hours. There were people and cars everywhere they looked.

"We should find a place to stay first and then hit up the streets," Hermione suggested.

Draco agreed and 4 hours and 7 hotels later, they managed to get a room with 2 beds. Lucky. They settled in their room and made a game plan as to how they were going to scope out the area.

"I heard there is a wizarding part of Vegas, I say we check there first."

"No way would he be stupid enough to hide out in a wizarding area of town," Draco shot.

"I think we could at least ask people if they've seen him or know of him!" Hermione shot back.

"Fine," Draco said already heading out the door and down the hall way.

Hermione groaned at followed after him. They agreed to separate and meet back in their room at 6pm.

Hours went by and Hermione hadn't gotten a single "yes I've seen him," she was about ready to give up, but managed to keep pushing through. She glanced at a clock on the wall that read 6:32pm. Crap! If Draco was already back at the room, he would freak that she wasn't there yet. Hermione made her way out of the bar and down the Las Vegas Strip until she hit her hotel and ran up the stairs to room 223. The door was slightly ajar when she arrived, being cautious, she slipped her wand out of her pocket and pushed the door open. She entered the room to see Draco sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

He lifted his head and jumped off the bed to Hermione's side, "I thought something happened to you!" he said.

"Me? Why? Because I was late?"

"Yes! I was jumped by a couple wizards in the streets, they know who I am, why I'm here and that you're here too. From now on we don't split up, okay?" He sounded a little bewildered and the expression on his face matched.

She agreed and they ordered room service thinking it maybe wasn't best to leave their hotel room just yet. Today was only day 1 and shit was already starting to hit the fan.

* * *

The alarm Hermione set the night before began to blare into her ear. It rang the wakeup call and coaxed her out of sleep. She reached across the table and slapped the alarm until it stopped. She laid there rubbing her eyes and faced towards Draco's bed, he hadn't made any sounds during the night which was good. In fact, she couldn't even hear him breathing... She glanced over to see an empty bed. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the bed; it doesn't even look like he even slept in it! She sat up in her bed when she felt weight moving on the other side of her bed.

"JESUS MALFOY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" she rolled out of her bed and onto the floor. She could hear him groan and move again in _her _bed. Hermione got off the floor and sat on the side of the bed. She cleared her voice, coughed, screamed... _again_... and poked at his bare back. He didn't even budge. She let him be and eventually half an hour later he woke up. Hermione was sitting on the edge of the bed still, staring at him with a disgusted look on her face. He flipped onto his back and stretched his arms, rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Have a good sleep?" Hermione questioned him. Draco looked at her with a puzzled look.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?"

"This is MY BED!" he could see her face start to heat up.

"I'm pretty sure I would know which bed is mine Granger," he said getting up and walking around the room.

"Then explain to me why your bag is at the end of the other bed, huh?"

"You probably moved it."

"You _have _to be kidding me! Why would I even do that?!"

"How would I know? I see the way you look at me," he said with a smirk all over his face. Hermione got off the bed and right into his face.

"Listen buddy," she began once she caught a whiff of his breath. "Wait... You went out last night?"

"No, why would you say that?"

"The alcohol on your breath, perhaps," she said putting things together. "You went out, got drunk and got into my bed! What happened to not splitting up?"

"I have to get a break from your bitching every once in a while, alright?" he replied pulling a shirt over his head. "I needed a drink."

"_My _bitching? I think I was the one who deserved some time away from _YOU!_ You were the one to punch me in the face yesterday! And you yelled at me for helping _YOU!_" she was getting pretty riled up now. "I DON'T NEED YOUR BULLSHIT MALFOY! I COULD HAVE COME HERE MYSELF!" Now it was his turn to get mad.

"I APOLOGIZED GRANGER, YOU HEARD ME! I EVEN LET YOU HUG ME!"

"LET ME HUG YOU? YOU TOUCHED ME FIRST! DON'T PLAY GAMES MALFOY!"

"Who said I was playing?" he said before leaving the hotel room slamming the door behind him. What was that supposed to mean? Hermione didn't want it to bother her, but it did. In a way, she wanted him to like it... She put her thoughts away, showered and hit up the Vegas strip for day 2 of looking for their mystery wizard. She passed Draco once, but avoided eye contact; she wasn't ready to talk to him yet.

The day grew hot and her patients grew thin. There was no trace of this guy anywhere, where the hell did Draco hear this rumour? Hermione walked into the last wizard shop there was in Vegas. Looks like any other wizard shop, supplies for potion making, a few books, antiques, looks like there was old quidditch gear in there too. The shop door jingled when Hermione walked in. A short woman with curly white hair and a polka-dot dress stood behind the counter.

"Hello dearie, what can I get you?" Hermione pulled out the picture of Killermen from her pocket and slid it onto the counter towards the woman.

"I'm looking for this man," she said tapping the picture. The little old lady shifted her glasses from her head to her eyes and took the pictures in her hand.

"What's the fellow's name?"

"Bruce Killermen," Hermione answered.

"Killermen, eh? Well I know him, but not by that name. He is my nephew, George Stills. He used to work here in my shop, he was actually here just visiting me. He never visits me for any reason. What did he do this time?" Hermione explained the lead they were on and why they had come to Las Vegas.

"Well all I can tell you dearie is that if you were to find him now, he would be hiding in plain sight. My guess is that he is back in London."

"I really hope you don't mind, but could I check that with a Veritaserum?"

"Not a problem, I have nothing to hide dearie," the old lady said with a smile. She willingly took the potion and answered the same questions with the same answers. She honestly did have nothing to hide and agreed with the Ministry that he should be in Azkaban for all the stuff he has done.

Once Hermione gathered the information she needed, she headed into one of the wizard bars and wrote a letter to the Ministry about her findings. After that she wrote another letter to Harry.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you are well and I hope work is going good. I miss you lots, it feels like I have been away forever when in reality it has maybe been three or four weeks. I know Christmas is around the corner, but at the rate I am traveling, I don't think I will be able to make it back in time. I mean, it is only a couple days away and we have to take the rental car back to Canada... Oh right, we went to Canada, now we're in Las Vegas. It's been a heck of a journey, but we'll be back soon if everything goes according to plan of course. Give my best to Ginny and the Weasley's, Ron too okay? Love and miss you all!_

_Hermione G._

After she finished, she sealed her letters and gave them to the bar owner to send by owl. Muggle mail would take way to long. By the time she left the bar, the sun had gone down and the desert air was starting to get cold. She made her way back to the hotel and settled in her bed with some room service food. It wasn't long before Draco stormed into the room. He didn't even look at her until he grabbed clothes out of his bag and emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing pajamas and a baggy t-shirt.

"Find anything?" he grunted.

"In fact I did, you?"

"Yup, from the same person you did. The little old lady in the shop. She told me what she told you and she also forgot to mention to you that if we want to know more about Stills, we should go visit his mum in Ireland," he said as he flopped down onto his bed. Hermione was just finishing a bowl of soup.

"I," she said still swallowing, "I think that would be a good idea. Do you have an address of some sort?" He got off the bed and picked his shorts up from off the floor and fished into the pocket and pulled out a little piece of paper and dropped it in her lap when he passed by her. Hermione unfolded the paper as he was resuming his position on his bed. She read the scribbled words on the paper then folded it back up and stuffed it in her pocket. She had yet to change into comfy clothes. The past few days in Vegas have been productive, now they would just have to drive all the way back up to Canada to return the rental car... This will be fun reminding Draco of that the next day...

* * *

Hermione took initiative and by initiative, she just managed to jump into the driver's side of the car before Draco did. Of course he moaned and groaned about it, but he willingly sat in the passenger's side. Of course he had his usual scowl, but he didn't say much after which was a bonus. A few 7 hours of driving and no talking between the two of them, Hermione was getting used to the quiet. They had just entered Idaho and she was starting to feel a little sleepy. Apparently Draco beat her to the punch though, she could hear his breathing. It was made up of heavy sighs and light breaths. She snuck a look at his sleeping face; he looked so peaceful and innocent. She reckoned that whatever nightmares that were haunting his life had dissipated because he hadn't made a sound in his sleep since the day he punched her. She smiled at him and continued to drive along. She hummed to keep herself awake, whistled at a time too and tapped her fingers along the steering wheel. Whatever she did, it luckily didn't wake him, because if it did, she would have to go through hell all over again. She took in the sights of the open farm lands. It looked so peaceful here. That is when she started to hear Draco murmur in his sleep. She tried to make out what he was saying but it was next to impossible. She thinks she heard the words magic, Canada and car. She laughed at how mighty and macho Draco always made himself out to be, when in truth, he spoke in his sleep. It was actually really hilarious. Hermione stopped giggling to herself when she heard her name. It was soft. It sounded like an angel calling for her. She looked over to Draco and his lips were slightly parted.

"Granger," he sighed again. What the heck was going on? This is like something you see in a horror movie she thought, blimey. She pretended she never heard anything, but when she looked over at him again, he was smiling. It was a slight smile, but it was still there and then he whispered her name a third time. She couldn't take it anymore. She pulled into a gas station just up the road and filled up the car. After she finished, she shook Draco to wake him. He yawned at her touch and moaned for her to stop shaking him.

"Get up would you? I'm tired as hell and you're talking in your sleep. You're freaking me out." He instantly looked at her, his grey eyes wide.

"What did I say?" he asked. Hermione choked on her words, she didn't want to tell him what she heard. Not all of it at least. So she told him about the words she heard before but left out when he was talking about her. They both looked a little relieved at that.

Draco slid out of the car and walked around for a bit to stretch his legs. After they both went to the bathroom and bought something to snack on, they hopped back into the car and right onto the highway. They still had a long trip to go and only a few more hours left in the day. Hermione fell asleep with ease as Draco drove into the night. He was grateful for not saying what he was dreaming of... Unless she really did hear... The past was the past at this point and no matter what has happened between them, nothing more can. No matter how much he thought she looked beautiful when she slept.


End file.
